doesn't feel like a saturday...

It really doesn't feel like a weekend... I still had to get up and be at the Music Hall at 8:30. Because it rained last night, they had us playing like all morning, and then we went over the post-game routine. We played again in the afternoon until like 3:30 or something like that. Then I got the afternoon off, so I just chilled.
I ordered my books yesterday... That was definately a good thing to do.
so yeah, tonight, the entire trumpet section got together at 7:00 and carpooled like 15 minutes to the brother of the trumpet leader for a section party, there were so many people there... There was a giant bonfire, a 150-ft. slip-n-slide, a trampoline, and since it was somebody's birthday recently, they had rented a soft-serve ice cream machine. There was also a projector with a playstation 2 hooked up to it, so we sat around and watched videos of the Purdue marching band shows from the past 2 years.... that was interesting. So I got back around 11... it was actually a lot of fun. Anyway...

I'm a member!

And the results: I made it in!!!! I'm officially in the ranks of the Purdue All-American Marching Band! That's pretty sweet... They gathered all the trumpets all together and somewhere along the way to where we were going we lost the 5 trumpets that were getting cut... they kind of just dissapeared, I guess the student leaders took them out, because when we got to where we were going they said, congradulations, you've all made it in. There are 5 "Saturday Staff" who will each have to do 2 shows at some point, so some people will get rotated around so the saturday staff get a chance to perform; that will probably be the weakest performers on a certain week that get taken out.
Now I can officially call myself a band member.... I get to visit Notre Dame, and Penn High in Mishawaka, and if Purdue actually does well this year and wins more games than it loses, we'll go to a bowl game, which would be absolutely sweet!
We got an extra long break for lunch after playing a bit more music as the finalized band. After lunch, they marched us from the hall of music to the marching practice field, up to Slater Center, which is the outdoor concert location of the pre-game concert, to pump up fans... then they marched us right into Ross-Ade stadium, and showed us where we will sit, right in the middle of the U. They released us right from Ross-Ade, so it was nice and close to my dorm, since my dorm's right across the parking lot. We had the rest of the night off, so I got a shower and then hung out with some friends and played DDR and Guitar Hero, it was a lot of fun.
Now I'm ready to go to bed....

A new change to the blog.... anyone and everyone can post comments now... I just found that option and turned it on.
Well this is it.... by the time most of you read this, I will already know whether or not I have made it into the band. After the president of Purdue speaks to us, we get taken into sections and told who stays and who goes. Hopefully I'll stay... today was "marching auditions", as if this whole week hasn't been our audition. It was our last chance to impress our student leaders, who will be deciding who they want in their sections. We had to perform a Block-P march in hi-chair, lo-chair, and glide steps. We also had to lo-chair up the field playing Hail Purdue at tempo 172, which is nearly 3 beats a second.
On the march back to the Hall of Music, we took a detour off the street into the bottom level of a parking garage and played Hail Purdue while marching through.... THAT was interesting.
Well, I'll keep you posted.... trust me, you'll know whether I make it into band or not....

Pictures! (Finally)

I got my package in the mail, which includes the adapter that will let me transfer pictures from my phone to my computer. So take at look at some of this stuff.
This is me in front in the entryway of the Northeast Cary Quad building. My room is in the picture: its windows the second pair of windows directly above me, the ones with the curtains slightly open... yes, my room is precisely in the center of the building on the highest floor.
This is a view from the doorway of my room, post-rearranging. Futon and T.V. on the left, lofted beds and desks on the right. Yes, its a sweet setup, yes there is a huge walk-in closet to my left, and check out the next pic...This is a view of the semi-private bath which is attached to our room across from our closet. Big shower, private bath.... yes, this is the suite life.
More marching and playing today... the most notable thing we did today was "Fountain Hail" which all the trumpets did... we all went and stood in the middle of a shooting fountain and played Hail Purdue while getting competely soaked fully clothed. It was actually a lot of fun.... I'm getting better at this marching stuff, but I'm still not sure if I'll make it into the band... they have pretty high standards and I'm getting kind of nervous. I REALLY want to be in it.

Nearing the Limit

Now I begin to approach the point where I just wish I was back home. Not because I'm not enjoying myself here... I'm just tired. I want to be with my family, with my friends at home, in my own bed. But I know this is my bed now, and these are my new friends... My body is tired, my mind is tired, I'm severely in need of alone time. But aside from that, I'm having a BLAST!
Today, I got up and actually went to breakfast at Ford dining court, and then went to rehersal. The upperclassmen got here today and had auditions until about 3:00. At 3:00 they marched from Elliot all the way down to the practice field where all us freshmen were, and joined us. After dinner, we actually got an oppotunity to go over the basic again, this time with the upperclassmen... about 400 people, all instrumentalists and auxilaries included. It was an awesome sight to see, 400 people snapping to attention on command. After about an hour of practice on the field, we marched down the street back to Elliot, in Purdue marching fashion, which was new for all the Freshmen... we just stood in rank and marched beside upperclassmen and watched and copied what they did. 400 people marching in ranks of 10 in a huge line down the street all in step and playing Hail, Purdue is truly an awesome sight, but even more awesome to be one of those people! We then proceeded to fit all 400 of us in a comparitively tiny orchestra rehersal room and then practice music... wow, that was amazing... that's like all the kids in Bloomfield High and Jr. High put together.Its an exhilirating experience, and the expectations are for you to be as close to perfect as possible, which is a great standard to be held to.. as much as I complain about being tired, I know band camp is awesome!

The Fundamentals

Today we had to be up and in Elliot Hall of Music (henceforth ELLT) by 8:30, supposedly to attend a convocation for people doing the Freshman weeklong orientation, Boiler Gold Rush. When I woke up, though, it was cloudy... when I started to walk to ELLT it started to pour. So I ran from tree to tree, taking shelter as often as I could. Anyway, the covocation thing didn't start until like 9:30, and it was in the ELLT auditorium. that was a purdue sports convocation so it was pretty boring and LONG. After that we played in the orchestra room until lunch, mostly warm-ups and hail purdue. After lunch, which we had an hour and a half, we were required to meet on the co-rec field, which is the intramural sports field, which is a 15 minute walk from ELLT... yeah, that was a bit tiring. Once out there we started learning Purdue-style marching: standard Attention, left-face, right-face, horns up and down, mark time, the glide? step, the lo-chair step and the hi-chair step, which i struggled with. They had us out on that field until 4:30, with barely any break. From 4:30 to 6:30 we had dinner, then we met back out on the marching band practice field, which is right next to the co-rec field, and we reviewed the stuff we learned earlier, only with the drums and auxilary band (flags), and we did some 8-to-5 stuff (that's 8 steps to 5 yards). Then we went back to ELLT for some more playing, and we just got out of there about a half-an-hour ago. They pushed us to the limit......
Oh yeah, and a tip... don't turn your fridge so cold that your milk freezes....its a pretty bad deal if you do, trust me, I found that out.

The REAL first day

So yeah, today is sunday... my alarm went off at 8:30, when I meant it to go off at 9:30.... long story. Anyway, I went to church at 11 at university church, which is an interdenomination church on campus. It was okay, and Dr. Will Miller gave a great message. After that, I went to a luncheon that also started at 11, so I missed almost all of it. I got food, anyway, free food, that's what counts...
    When I got back, my roomate, Tyler from St. Louis, was moving in, so I kind of helped with that... later we rearranged the furniture and stuff so everything would fit and stuff, I'll post a picture once I get the equipment to do so... I had to be at the Elliot Hall of Music at 5 to check in, so I checked in and sat there for about an hour and half, which was pretty worthless, except I got to meet the trumpet leaders, and some of my fellow trumpets, which was pretty cool. Then the director, Jay Gephart, talked for about an hour about the staff, their credentials, what we would be playing, and what to expect in the next couple of days. The auditioning freshmen for band camp filled up the seating of an entire orchestra, so that was pretty neat... Then we had playing auditions, which made me really really nervous, but it was okay, and the audition went really well, I think... they don't actually tell us how we did. We don't find out if we made it until friday. Then there was "mixer", they gave us cookies and punch and told us to socialize, so I did.....
          Anyway, I have to get up and be at the music hall at 8:30, sooo... that's about it.

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Day #1...

So Here I Am at purdue. Everything is fine here, I'm living the high life compared to most of the students here, especially the other freshmen: I have a Cary Quad Suite, which is probably twice the size of a normal dorm room, plus it attaches to a private bath that's only shared with one other room.
Yesterday, I met some new people: Brett, who lives across the hall from me, Mark, who lives on down the hall, Jimmy, who's my R.A., and Paul, who I haven't really talked to yet. Mark and I played some ping-pong yesterday, but he's definately better than I am he beat me four games to one.
Today is the big day: playing auditions, and I'm really nervous. I think I'm going to go find a church a little bit later. Until then, I guess its breakfast time!