D.C.

Washington D.C. is my favorite place.  If given the choice to live anywhere, I would live there.  The energy and excitement that come with being in our nation's capital entice and captivate me.  The fact that you are in the seat of power and the home of one of the most powerful people in the world is just so cool.

The monuments are some of the prettiest things in D.C.  They get all lit up at night, and look really pretty.  I loved walking the mall- no matter how bad it made my feet hurt- and seeing the monuments that represent our great nation.

While I was in D.C., the fillibuster or whatever it is called was going on.  So, Obama was going to the Capital.  We managed to catch a glimpse of his motorcade one day.  Last time I had been in Washington D.C., Bush had been in office, and we got to see his motorcade. When we saw him, he smiled and waved at all of the people lining the streets.  This time however, there was hardly anybody out on the street - it was like no one noticed that the amount of police had increased and there were guys with machine guns out.  And, when Obama rolled by, he didn't smile or wave at the people who were there.  It was kind of lame.

I got to do something super cool while in Washington D.C.  I joined a protest.  Well, sort of.  I stood in with a protest to take a picture, so that is basically the same thing, right? I have no idea what these people were protesting.  

Some of the other people outside the White House were pretty interesting too.  There are all sorts of crazies that end up out there.  One guy was singing about Allah, which wouldn't be weird, except he was doing it in front of the White House, with a big suitcase.  He wast an interesting fellow.  There was also a protest about Chernobyl that is the longest protest ever.  Its a little tarp tent with hippies protesting something with nuclear power.  There was also a guy who just pulled down his pants and mooned the White House.  It was pretty hilarious.

One of the two tours of the Capital that we got was from our representative, Aaron Shock.  I was extremely disappointed because I did not get to meet him.  We did get to go in his office, and I got to take this picture above.  He had a pretty cool office. But I am still pretty disappointed I didn't get to meet him.

I'M OBNOXIOUS

You know when you watch a movie or see an animal, and you just go, yeah that is so me? I definitely have those moments nearly every time I watch a Pixar or Disney or...just children's movie.
Take Agnes for example.  The first time I saw Despicable Me, I thought she was this extremely adorable child.  Which is completely true.  No denying that. And when Gru tells the girls not be annoying, she pulls a move like I would. She hits her cheeks to make noise and asks if it is considered annoying.  I spent the rest of the time watching the movie...actually the rest of the evening pulling this same move.

Then, in Finding Nemo, I can easily identify with one of the fish Nemo meets on his first day of school.  While introducing themselves, one says "I'm H2O intolerant" and sure it is funny, and more people remember that line.  But the next one to introduce himself is my spirit animal.  Or spirit twin.  Or something really awesome like that.  I don't know what.  But, this quote became the quote for me and my best friend last year.

Band Dismissed! U-High Pride!

We had senior night and our very last marching band competition this past weekend.  It is so bittersweet.  I am proud of us seniors and how we've managed to maintain a tight knit family through the band.  I'm also so proud of how we performed both Friday night and Saturday.   But, I am so sad that my time with the Marching Pioneers is over. I am going to miss my section but I know I made some very good friends through my role as drum major, within my section and the band.

My grandparents came to senior night and the competition.  It was really great to have more than just my parents there to cheer me on and support me.  While I was doing my salute at the beginning of the show, I saw my parents and grandparents smiling at me and giving me thumbs up.  It was really exciting and encouraging.  We had a GREAT last show. I started to tear up from the podium, as it was my last time being drum major for the marching pioneers (at least for field show performances, we still have a few parades left), and it was just such a good performance end on.

The best part of a competition, or worst part if we don't win any, is the awards ceremony.  The drum majors stand in a line and accept awards on behalf of our band.  We got to accept five awards for our band that night.  That is the most trophies we've won so far this season.  We won best drum majors, best auxiliary (which is the flags), and best percussion.  We also won the award for best percussion of the whole competition and second place in our class. We also had the highest auxiliary and drum major scores of the day, although there were no awards for those.  It was a little disappointing to get only second place in our class since we swept our caption awards, but the captions don't add into the class placement awards.

Senior night was great too.  As seniors we decided to dedicate our band performances to Mrs. Sulzberger, our assistant band director's wife who is struggling with breast cancer. The whole band wore pink gloves, and all the seniors wore pink bandannas in lieu of our hats.  At the end of our halftime performance, all the seniors peeled off and made a ribbon for breast cancer awareness.  It was really great.  Here is a video of our performance

http://new.livestream.com/uhigh/events/2481457/videos/32559253

IMEA

On Columbus Day, I completed my last ever IMEA auditions.  And let me just tell you, boy am I glad.  IMEA auditions are basically a bunch of geeky band boys standing around waiting to audition.  None of them are very good at small talk, and are just incredibly awkward.
IMEA is a lot like that too.  Luckily I have managed to form some strong friendships with a couple boy trombonists.  They are all from in town and I have played in numerous groups with them, and take lessons from the same teacher.  Out of the three closest, two still have the geeky band guy vibe, but they're okay.  The other one...well let’s just say he's sort of a stud.
But, at IMEA, I have only had the opportunity to sit by one these friends once.  Last year.  Every other year I've been stuck in between two geeky guys.  Usually I can get along with one of two fairly well, so long as they’re not too pompous and arrogant.  Almost every year, this guy asks for my number.  And it's always in the most awkward way possible.
Regardless, I had a great audition.  And I found out that I made both concert band and jazz band.  I'm super excited for the Jazz festival in a few weeks!