Round No. 1

First Week of Classes: Well, kind of the first week. Everyone pretty much just gave us a syllabus then gave the always favorite "peace out". My Astronomy professor is alright... he's got a British accent but also has a speech impediment of some sort, so it makes listening to him for extended amounts of time slightly difficult. Sociology should be cool. Oh, except for the cross-campus treck that I am being asked to make in 10 minutes right after the class (which is completely unrealistic). Picture a box the size of, oh, let's say 40 acres. I go from the top left corner of the box to the right side of the box. And I can't leave Soc early because the prof is pretty insistent that he needs his full 50 minutes from 9-9:50. Intro to the Management of Sports starts at 10 at Bellmont (part of the stadium) and that prof is pretty insistent that we be on time. This may take a bit of negotiating. My American Places of Leisure writing course should be alright though. We will be writing about stadiums, parks, bars, bridges, malls, etc. in search of what attracts people to these places. And as an added bonus, my prof is kinda cute and witty, making the 8 AM start on TTH not quite as painful :)

First Pre-Game: Coolest thing ever. I thought I would be insanely nervous being in front of 98,000 people, but there was really no time to think about anything at all. We marched from the Music Building to DKR doing all the chants and dancing and people were stopping what they were doing to watch and cheer for us. Video cameras everywhere, flashes from the top of the stadium as we approached it.. it was pretty sweet. We went in through the huge university sealed gates and started to line up in the tunnel waiting to enter onto the field. My favorite part of the whole game experience yesterday was all the people that were crowded around the tunnel along the orange railing (see pictures in previous post) and that were lining up and shoving others out of the way to give high fives to us. To us. The band. I'd never experienced any enthusiasm and school spirit like that given toward the band. I tried to get my camera out to record the whole tunnel bit, but it didn't really work out (I'll give it another shot when we play Arkansas in a couple weeks). Pre-Game happened just like it should... and I DIDN'T MAKE ANY HORRIBLE MISTAKES! I was worried that the crowd would be intimidating, but again, there really wasn't any time to think about it. Once I finally looked around, I was already marching across the Bevo at midfield playing Texas Fight. We finished up and I paused to capture the moment:

First UT Game with LHB: Went well. Wasn't ridiculously crowded in the stands. And playing with a 400-member group is just spectacular... I am loving the fact that I cannot hear myself. The actual football game was kinda boring, but it was FAU. Each game will progressively get more exciting.

First Halftime/First Brush with Fame: Again, went okay. Easy show for the most part. Boring, but easy. Following the leader is always fun. Matthew McConoughey was there (like at every game), so I snagged a picture of him on the sideline as we went back to the stands.

First College Crush: Hot Snare Boy. I can't help it, he is just so dang good looking. It doesn't even really matter because nothing will come of it, but he took a step when I didn't and bumped his snare into my butt a couple days ago. I apologized for not giving him some more room, to which he simply grabbed my shoulder and said, "No no, don'tworry about it. It was my fault. *cue irrestible smile*" Talk about some weak knees... I felt like I was 80 or something. And I'm sure I just had a goofy grin on my face, which is exactly why I smiled but then turned away pretty quick.

First Day Off: It's nice. Woke up at 11:45 after being out kinda late last night... plus the fact that I was apparently completely exhausted. Got some breakfast/lunch across the street, did a little cleaning and picture uploading, and am about to read 42 exhilirating pages of "What is Sociology?" I'll head over to the gym in a bit... it's just so amazing that I can't not use it when I have some time. But my FAVORITE thing about today is probably the fact that, at this very moment, I am singing a familiar FSN theme as we close out the 8th inning of some good 'ol Ranger baseball. It is the first time since I have been in Austin that I have gotten to watch them, making this tiny little dorm feel a bit more like home.

Tomorrow is Labor Day. Yay for no class!

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.

So Far So Good.

Well, the move went well. Here is my new home:

So yes. Yay college dorms.

Pretty much all I've have done since being in Austin is walk to the music building, grab trumpet, walk to the Bubble, march march march, take trumpet back to music building, play play play, free lunch, more Bubble and more play. My lips are chapped, to say the least. And though it seems I am complaining, it really is cool to be here. I mean, I have played the intro and first phrase to Texas Fight about a kajillion times (hopefully with many many more to come), but the fact that I am here and getting to play it is absolutely amazing. I do find, however, that I either have Texas Fight or any of the six Led Zeppelin songs that have been drilled into our heads the past couple days stuck in my head at all times.

But I'm not complaining :)

Auditions tomorrow morning and afternoon (both playing and marching) to be followed by the postings of the 2008-2009 Showband of the Southwest at 7:00 PM... I'll feel much better after that.

Bed time. Rehearsal in the Bubble at 8 AM, which means leaving shortly after 7:15 to allow a 10-15 minute walk, time to get my trumpet from my locker and walk the 5-10 minutes from the MBE to said rehearsal sight.


And my calves hurt.

It started with the bat.

I restored my trunk today to its former glory (before it became my rabbit hole). This may sound like a very minor task, but the trunk of my car has been my permanent softball stash for the past two and half years... So in a way, and as lame and cliche as it sounds, the clearing out of this horde resembled the final clearout of what was left of high school in my life. I mean, excluding friends and such.

I separated things into "keep" and "trash" piles, throwing away three of four pairs of cleats, most of my hand warmers that undoubtedly have stopped working, a couple water bottles, four tennis balls (I was always prepared for a good game of Wall Ball), a mini-nerf football (Wacky-Pack prize, and I kept it because ya never know when you might need it), and the older and crustier of two pairs of batting gloves. Things I kept: old glove (as an extra and because it's hard to just trash a trusty, worn-in mitt), my current glove (though I'm not sure it still qualifies as "current"), my better pair of batting gloves, Ringor cleats, softball bag (thank you Coach Sterling for letting that one slip through your fingers my freshman year :D), two tennis balls, a head band, pre-wrap, and 5 softballs.

I felt better after I had finished because that really was the last flare of high school needing closure before I leave on Tuesday. But while I was trying to decide what was to be kept, I found myself picking up my old OKC bat... just to give it a swing or two. Next came the batting gloves followed by what has become an extension of my left hand over the past 12 years of my life. Honestly, it didn't feel like anything had changed. I've played for so long that when a bat and glove are put into my hands, it's just like picking right back up where I had left off at the end of season. It threw me back in time, leaving me desperate for a simple game of catch or some energy-relieving batting practice, in which I would prefer to be chasing down balls in the outfield. I was sad on April 25th when the seniors played our last game, but I think I will be more sad when February rolls around and the overcast, cold weather kicks in. To me, that is softball time.

A long way from where I originally began, but yes... trunk cleanout. I am ready for Tuesday now :D

Meanwhile, I just watched The Merman win his seventh gold medal. And it wasn't by much: one one-hundredth of a second. Michael Phelps really is something else.

And the Boys of Arlington are losing 6-0 in the bottom of the 7th. Our offense hasn't been the same since the chaotic 19-17 loss at Fenway on Monday. It seems our pitching staff can single handedly extinguish the fire under the Ranger bats. We are so close to greatness... it's maddening.

Last Friday in Denton. Woo! :D