Day 52

Date: July 5, 2011

Time: 11:59pm (MST)

Playing on iTunes: "Jack Sparrow" by Hans Zimmer

Location: Nampa, ID

Recent Trip: 530 miles

After an absolutely beautiful drive through the mountains of the northwest, we arrived in Nampa, ID at Columbia High School around 5a and got 3 hours of floor time...we also lost an our moving into mountain time. We're officially on our swing back to the east. West coast...you were great. I'll be seeing you again soon, don't you worry! I still haven't figured out how why the country's time zones are split like they are. But that's besides the point. I'm only getting closer to the east coast now. Still 12,000 miles to go!!

Today was a very special day for myself because it was another day that I would get to see someone special to me!! First my aunt and uncle in Clovis, CA and now my girlfriend in Nampa, ID! She was very excited as well because she hasn't been to any kind of drum corps event in a while so it was the first time she'd seen a drum corps in a decent time. She graced the presence of the pit with drinks and goodies. And just a heads up for anyone planning on visiting the Cadets at rehearsal anywhere in the country this summer, the pit LOVES candy and drinks. Particularly, Gatorade, Sour Patch Kids, and Starbursts. So if you're every visiting a rehearsal and feel the need to be a little generous, the pit will make you their favorite person in the world if you bring a couple of snacks ;-) *wink face*.

Thank you Jay for changing the tire!!

So one thing that George Hopkins talks to the corps a lot about is choosing your attitude. You can use that with anything. You get an F on your test, you can choose to be mad and disappointed, or you can choose to take that grade as an inspiration to study and do better. If it's horrible weather out, you have the choice to either be down in the dumps or be happy because you can be. You have no reason to ever be sad just because it's raining out! Well, what my point is...today when the pit was in transition moving from our practice area to the field for ensemble rehearsal, the trailer that we move our equipment on got a flat tire. Now me running over to help my friend Taylor out could have instantly thought, "What the heck man!! How could this have happened?!" Or I could have just said, "Mistakes happen. No use crying over spilt milk." and just move on and figure out a solution. So that's what I did. We got the rest of the pit to help lift the trailer out of the way of an obstruction and Taylor pulled the trailer enough out of the way so someone could fix it. Then the pit unloaded the trailer and moved everything individually. So as you can see, nothing to get excited or mad about, something happened and we responded in a calm and pleasing manner. If we were to get mad at this situation we would have just been standing there...mad...not doing anything...wasting time.

Tonight's performance was a little strange. The field was not the greatest quality, the set up area for the pit was on a 45 degree incline (for the front line of keyboards) and the audience was very sparse. Overall, the performance was not our best, and it was reflected in our scores. As you learned from the previous paragraph, we will take this performance as it is and draw from it; work harder, inspire ourselves to do better and move on. This performance is over and we cannot do anything about it except do better next time.


Boise Summer Music Games
1) The Cadets - 80.3
2) Blue Knights - 75.4
3) Cascades - 66.0

After the performance my girlfriend, Bonnie, and I went to the Sonic that was right next to the football field to grab something quick to eat and spend a few minutes together. I know Sonic isn't the most romantic place, but it was the only place open that we had time to go to and I had never been to a Sonic before except for something small down in Florida. It was great to see her and see how excited she was about the show. The best people to get feedback about the show are musicians, especially ones that are partial to marching groups. Bonnie is a drum major for the UMass Minuteman Marching Band so it was great to hear her feedback and her excitement for the corps and its season.

On to Salt Lake City!!

Thought of the Day: "Your best gets better everyday as long as you work at it."