This weekend I went to Kansas City with our concert band. This was the Festival of Music at Worlds of fun. Our band always has this little problem. State Large Group Competition happens to be on the same weekend as the Festival. So, we leave the school at 8 AM. Preform. Choir people do the choir thing. For all of you that don't know, a 1 is the best rating you can get. There are almost always three judges for your performance. It's extremely rare for a concert band to get straight ones at competition. Especially if you are being judged by old fashioned judges. So what do we do? We get straight ones.
Leave the competition. Go back to the school. Scramble to get on another bus. Throw your shit in the undercarriage and hurry your ass onto the bus. Go to Winstead's. Stuff your face with some awesome food. Go to the hotel. Swim. Get stomach cramps. Regret swimming. Go upstairs. Go back downstairs. Buy macaroni and cheese. Go back upstairs. Tolerate the playful harassment of your roommates for eating macaroni and cheese at midnight. Try to sleep. Drink a liter of Dr. Pepper. Try to sleep. Throw your book across the room to get your roommates to get up. Freak out as you are suddenly at the bottom of a pile of humans. Flail around a bit. Hit someone on the head with your empty liter Dr. Pepper bottle. Crawl back to your sleeping spot. See a sketchy prison bus drop someone off outside your hotel. Retreat to your fuzzy TARDIS blanket. Finally fall asleep at 2 AM.
Wake up at 6. Fight over who showers first. Iron concert clothes. Frantically pack shit. Get dressed. Walk out the door. Walk back in. Put pants on. Walk back out. Dash downstairs, there's food down there. Eat some gross donut thing. Drink some bad coffee. Go back to your room. Apologize to the book you threw. Drink half a liter of Coke. Shower. Hide a pillow in the fridge. Pack more stuff. Read book. Have emotion. Realise you have 5 minutes before the bus leaves. Frantically frantic. Fall down a flight of stairs. Forget your half liter of Coke in the fridge. Throw your stuff on the bus. Wrinkle freshly ironed concert clothes. Take a nap. Wake up. You're at the gates. Check out the park for a little bit. Go on the Patriot four times in a row. Check the time. Panic. Sprint back to the bus, ten minutes before warmup. Take migraine medicine. Migraine intensifies. Drink water. Practice with migraine. Walk into the air conditioned auditorium. Hell. Fucking. Yes.
Perform. Do good. Walk out. Be nervous about the rating. Go ride the Mamba three consecutive times in a row. Find a group of friends. Go buy food. Wait impatiently. Complain your order was lost. Wait another thirty minutes for food. Get food. Eat two chicken strips and some fries. Listen to friend get phone call. Cry. Throw away food. Sprint to the auditorium. Burst into the doors. Cry some more. Hug the first person you see. Hug everyone in a 45 foot radius. Hold Sweepstakes trophy, as well as 1st Place trophy.
Cry. Take more pictures. Cry some more. Group hug. Take a victory lap around the park. Stop for victory ice cream. Continue victory lap. Go to the bus. Find the bus is locked. Impatiently call the band director. Hold trophies. Cry. Walk back to the park. Hand trophies off to director. Find out we got straight ones, which is almost impossible at a national competition. Cry some more. Get a phone call. Get congratulated by a French horn player form the Canadian Brass, one of the best brass trios in the world. Cry. Ride some more rides. Say goodbye to the park. Get on the bus. Get your ass kicked in chess by your computer 24 consecutive times. Eat some McDonalds. Get back on the bus. Take a nap. Freak out because you're in a tornado warning. Get to the drop-off. Grab shit. Run to the car. Drive home. Eat some ramen. Text everyone in the band. Make sure they're all home okay. Watch the weather. Don't go to sleep til 2 because you're too busy trying to figure out if this is real.
We can say it was a good trip. My first thought when we got Sweepstakes was "We're gonna need a bigger trophy case." For those of you who don't understand, the Festival is a national competition that is open, in which +50 bands competed in, from 8 different states. and we have gone for the past three years. The first year, we received 2nd place in our class. Last year, we received 1st in our class. And this year, we received 1st in our class, and Sweepstakes. Sweepstakes means that we won the whole damn thing. And we received straight ones. Most bands are lucky to walk away with one trophy. We walk away with two. And a little plaque. That's right. We got a plaque. Jelly?
Seriously, I just read all of that. God. If you made it this far, you are determined. Good job. If any of you were there, I love you. Sorry for this long post. I thought it would be cool to tell you guys since I mentioned it earlier in my Eleanor and Park blog. If you guys want to check out the award ceremony, or a few pictures, there's a link to our school website below.
http://www.southhardin.k12.ia.us/WOF/wof_band.html
Well. This has been fun. Good talk.
Remember, play nice, share your toys, buckle your seat belts, don't drink and drive, don't drive with anyone who has been drinking, and don't do anything too illegal.
See you tomorrow!!
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