balullu09's Blog

• damn parade...

  9/3/07 0 Comments

  Okay, so I'm gonna rant about the parade today, since I almost passed out.

  So me and my friend got to the band room at 10:45 (becasue our band director told us to get there at 11:00) and the board said "Warm-up at 11:45" and we were so mad that he would tell us that just to warm up an hour later. Then, it wasn't bad for a while, we sat there and talked for forever, and then got dressed and ready for warm-ups at 11:45.

  We warmed up, and went to the buses to take us to where we were supposed to go for the start of the parade. And then we stood there for about 20 minutes. At least it was shady there. After standing there, we got in our block, put our uniforms (the jacket) back on (we took them off to cool down because our director told us to.) We got our jackets on, and stood there for about another 10 minutes.

  We finally started to move, and the parade (for us) had started. I was already really hot, but I had noo clue what was to come. I was playing the music, and I wasn't tired at all! I was hot, yes. But not tired.

  5 minutes later...

  I wanted to throw my instrument on the ground, take my uniform off, and jump in a pool of freezing cold water. I was soo freaking hot! Whenever a chaperone would come by with water, I'd take it. (I passed it to everyone else, too!)

  5 minutes later...

  I was about to kill these damn uniforms. I was soo freaking hot, and they ran out of water. All of a sudden, they stopped the band, halted us, and put us at parade rest. (THANK GOD!!!) After the parade, I found out that they were re-filling the water because we had run out. While we were stopped, I saw this little kid give his water to a chaperone. I LOVE THAT KID! Lol, too bad I didn't get any of that water.

  Well, we started moving again, and I had gotten some more water before we started moving again, but I was starting to get a little dizzy, so I stopped playing for a few seconds, and I felt a lot better. After I felt a little better, I started playing again, but softer so I didn't use as much air. During Twist And Shout, we have to sing in a part. I was sooo tired, but I tried to be as enthusiastic as possible so then the crowd had some fun.

  We were almost done with the parade, I could see the end where we always stop, and I was really happy! But we still had to play one song. Well, we finished that song, and we turned the corner. All of a sudden, I hear my director yelling "HATS! HATS!" meaning to take them off, so I whip mine off, and it was soo much cooler! Then he yells "UNZIP THE PERSON IN FRONT OF YOU!" (our uniforms zip up the back) so I unziped the person in front of me, and I got unziped, and I whipped off the coat. But as soon as I did that, I felt like I was going to pass out. Good thing that our director told us to stop walking and to just stop where we were. And then I hear someone barfing. So I look around, and it's the drum major barfing up what looked like water.

  So I set down my instrument and hat, and my whole body was shaking. I was pacing around, and I felt soo terrible. They ran out of water again.. I was soo tired, and shaking, so I tried to squat down. But I could barely balance. I had to hold myself up with my hands.

  We had to start walking again, so I pick everything up, and I wanted to cry soo bad. But I knew I'd feel worse if I did, so I kept it in.

  They gave us water bottles on the way back to the buses, but they were boiling hot! So that didn't refresh me at all! I was furious. Plus, the damn buses were soo far away! And of course mine had to be the last one..

  Ugh, well, I got back to the school, and I put my hat and uniform away, and got to go home. But when I finally got to sit down in the air conditioning, I was shaking so much.

  Well, I'm home now, and I feel much better. Oh, and I took a shower. I felt soo gross after that. This was harder for me, than marching in The Magic Kingdom at Disney World in Florida. I swear, it was hotter here (Chicago area) than it was down there when we marched in that parade.

  I'm happy this is over, and I don't have to do it for another year.

  • Read More

• today was fun.

  9/2/07 0 Comments

  Today was really fun! (Well, after the cleaning part.)

  So I woke up, went to church, and we had to take the van because the car didn't have any gas, but it was fun. But only because there was seriously a whole van-ful of bottled water in the back for the parade tomarrow. So both of the back seats were taken out, so I had to sit on the water, lol, but it was really fun.

  Then, I went home, and dusted and cleared the clutter out of most of my room so then I could hang out with my friends later.

  After I was done cleaning, I went with my friends to the Mongolian BBQ. If you've never been to one, go! It's REALLY good food, and really fun. Definately my favorite restaurant. Maybe I'll go there for my birthday on the 25th..

  Then we went to the Bass Pro Shop which was right next to the Mongolian BBQ, because my friends wanted to see the fish tanks. Well, we found a fudge stand in there, and there was a sign that said "Free Tastes" and we were happy, lol. Don't worry, I bought some, too!

  So then we went to Meijer, and we had an adventure wandering around in there.

  But then I had to change the Century21 sign (my job) and now I gotta give my friend half of my pay for this week, because he helped me out, and I agreed to give it to him.

  Then, my friends came back to my house, and we played 20 questions (lol, I used Hammie as one of my things to guess) and then we watched Rocky Horror, and they left.

  But today was REALLY fun! Ugh.. I just wish I didn't have to march in that parade tomarrow. It's gonna be soo hot, and uphill most of the time. Whatever.. I'll live..

  • Read More

• I MADE IT!!!!

  8/31/07 1 Comment

  Omg, I seriously can not believe it! I MADE THE HONORS JAZZ BAND!!! AHHHHH!!!

  Okay, it was really weird though, because people who tried out on an instrament got put on a different one. The saxophone section is as follows:

  1st Alto: Mitch (the same guy I was talking about in my last blog) 2nd Alto: John (he's good!) 1st Tenor: Brad (he used to play Alto, wtf? .. and I don't like his sound..) 2nd Tenor: ME! Bari: Rachel (she's the only one that tried out for Bari)

  Okay, I kinda really don't like how Mitch got put on 1st Alto, because now the Tenors are going to be worse. And Brad is on 1st Alto?? WTF! (Sorry, I'm kinda mad about that.) First of all, Brad has a terrible sound, and second of all, he didn't even try out on Tenor, so why was he put on 1st part? Whatever, I made it! I should be happy that I even did that!

  Okay, I do have bad news though, my friends who I really thought were going to make it didn't, though. Michelle, who plays Alto Saxophone was REALLY good on her auditions, so I thought she was in for sure. But no, she didn't make it. And also, my other friend Joe didn't make it. He plays Trombone, and he made the Honors band last year, so I was really expecting to make it again this year, but he didn't. That was really shocking to me. Oh well, I'll just try to have fun without them.

  Until next time..

  • Read More

• jazz band auditions

  8/30/07 0 Comments

  Okay, so I just had some pizza (and it was good!) but it was soo greasy. So now, I feel sick. Ugh.. stupid Turnabout grease!

  Alright, enough with the randomness. (I'll try not to be so random.) So I had jazz band tryouts Monday and Tuesday of this week, and I still haven't found out what jazz band I'm in. My school has 3 jazz bands. The lowest one is the Bakers Dozen. It's called that, because the first year that band was around, there were only 13 people in it, and now they are making all of the freshman go in that band so they can learn all about the jazz style and everything. The middle jazz band is called the Lab Band. It's a group for people that are okay at jazz, but still need to learn how to do improve solos, and work on other stuff. And then there is the Honors Jazz Band. You get honors credit for being in it, and it's a group for all of the really good players that don't really need too much help learning anything new in jazz, just to work on their technique, and they get to play a lot of fun music, and do a lot of stuff the other bands don't get to do.

  I really hope that I made the honors band, because I think that I'm at that level, and if I'm not, I'm really close, and playing harder music will help me to play better, and sightread music better. The director always takes only 2 tenor saxophones (what I play) and there are 6 tenors that tryed out for the top band, but really the only comptetion is Mitch (A senior, and a really great player. He was in the honors band last year, and he'll be in it again this year.), there is another girl named Nicole (Mitch's girlfriend, she's a sophomore and she's pretty good. Her first instrument is the flute, so she plays kinda soft which is bad for a tenor player, but she played the audition music better than me, I thought.), and then there's me. I'm a junior, and I'm starting to play a lot louder this year (Which is really good for me. My freshman year, no one could hear me play. I was quiet. But now, since I'm a much better player, I'm more confident with myself, and I'm playing louder.) I played the audition music okay, but I could have done better. When you audition, the director just has the band play the part your auditioning on, and then he goes down the line, and the people play it one by one with the rythem section (drums, bass, piano, and guitar). I had to go first, and when I went, I started off really good, but then I made one mistake, and then it just started to go downhill. Then I started shaking, and I could barely play. But at least I didn't cry. The one girl trying out started to cry after she auditioned.

  Anyway, I hope that I find out if I made the top band tomarrow. And hopefully the answer is yes. I'll be soo hapy if I make it!

  • Read More

• rehearsal from 9am-4:30pm today

  8/25/07 2 Comments

  Okay, so I just got home from my 7 and a half hour band rehearsal, and I am really tired. I feel like falling asleep on this keyboard.

  But we did start learning the 3rd Movement to our show, and I'm really excited to find out what I do and where I go. I already found out that I get to get trapped with the other 3 tenor saxophones (what I play) by the trombones! (Our show is titled "Trapped".) It's so fun! Lol, it looks like they bow to us. (And they should 'cause well, we're just fu*king amazing!) And if you've ever seen "Fiddler on the Roof" the trumpets, and mellophones look like the jews from the song "Tradition" cause they have their arms up, and it's really funny.

  Well.. nothing else happened today that I can remember that was really fun, or terrible or anything. So until next time..

  • Read More

• Back
• Next

• Back
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• Next