Day 82

Date: August 4, 2011
Time: 11:20pm (EST)
Playing on iTunes: "Higgins" by Umphrey's McGee


Location: Lawrence, MA
Recent Trip: 300 miles

Welcome back to New England!! 15,000 miles later I'm home. We pulled into Burlington high school a little later than expected due to some issues with the driving overnight but we got there nonetheless. Due to our driving issues, our schedule got a little jumbled around and our day was very short with one morning block then ensemble.

I was so excited for today since it was my home show and I would get to see all of my family and friends that I haven't seen all summer. They would actually get to see what I've been blabbering about everyday on this blog! Once we showed up tot he high school I had my dad drive down to the high school so that we could exchange a few things. I had to give him a few things to make my bags lighter, and he had a few things to make me heavier...snacks!! Awesome!! And some drinks. Gatorade and Coke Zero. This was the start of the craziness of snack giving by friends and alumnus of the corps.

By the time we left the school after rehearsal, the pit had acquired 60 Gatorades. Count them. 60 Gatorades!! That's only for 15 people. Guess we're going to be hydrated for a while! Thank you to everyone who brought snacks and drinks! It's a great feeling when people you know and love show you how much they care by visiting and bringing goodies!


The excitement of my homeshow had me a little distracted before the show so I had to make sure I reeled myself in and concentrated on what I needed to do and that was perform with the Cadets. We had a great lot warmup where a lot of people showed up and saw us have a little fun playing our warm up tunes. Especially "I Gotta Feeling"! Once getting to the field, I heard the screams of my name from the front sideline as the pit walked by to set up on the field. It was a great feeling knowing that everyone I knew was there to see me. The show itself was great from my perspective. The energy was there, the crowd was loving it and I knew that I was making my family, as well as myself, happy with everything I was doing. It was a very emotional show for myself.


After the show, I got to see all of my family and friends finally!! I was so excited to see everyone. It was like seeing outsiders! I had been seeing the same people everyday for the past 82 days and here's my family! I love them all!

Uncle Tim, me, Auntie Lyn

Dylan, Aunt Claudia, Alysa, me, Uncle Jay, Aunt Jeanne,
Uncle Jon

Auntie Leslie, Bobby, my Dad, and I

Ally and I

My girlfriend Bonnie and I

There were many others that I saw that are not picture here, but I'm so glad that I got to see each and every person that came to visit! Thank you guys so much for coming! Most of you haven't even seen a drum corps show before, and I'm glad that I could show you how great this activity is. I hope that you enjoyed it and would love to come see another show sometime in the future!

East Coast Classic

1) Blue Devils - 94.25
2) The Cadets - 93.60
3) Santa Clara Vanguard - 89.00
4) Boston Crusaders - 88.75

As far as scores go, as I said I'm not a huge into scores but I know that maybe the scores are not reflecting how I am describing our performance of the shows. This is just my perspective, obviously. But with the scores, there are the many different sub-sections of the performance aspect and as a corps we are not getting the best score in each category as we should be. That will just take some more rehearsal and more ensemble time. Focusing the mind and stamina of that focus is the big thing. I know everyone can do it and we'll be able to take finals by storm! Only one week left til Semi-finals!

Thought of the Day: "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart." - Helen Keller