drumcorps

Corps Season is Almost Over

I’m leaving tomorrow evening after work to head off to the Drum Corps Associates finals in Scranton PA. Rehearsal is on Friday, with a brass ensemble performance that evening. Saturday we rehearse some more, and head out to the stadium in the early evening for our competitive debut.

Deep down, I’m nervous and excited… but I’m having one of those *meh* sort of days today, so I’m not excited about it right this moment. I’m feeling like I wish I could spend the long weekend with my husband instead. I feel like I haven’t practiced enough over the past, oh, entire summer. It feels like the end of the semester, when I know that no amount of cramming will make me pass the final exam. But I know that when I get out there, in front of whatever crowd there may be, under the lights (if they have them on yet), I’ll be excited and happy to perform and I’ll feed off the energy of my corpsmates and the audience.

*checks Google maps for drive time*

Um.

OMFG.

Since I’m not taking time off of work tomorrow for a travel day, and my ride is swinging past Toledo around 6pm, we’re not going to get to Scranton until TWO O’CLOCK AM. *facepalm*

I have made a bad decision. Shoulda just taken my last remaining half-day of personal time, I guess. Ah, well. As I recall, the guy I’m rooming with for the weekend isn’t leaving until after work, too, so he’ll probably be getting there around the same time. So, the plus side is that I won’t wake his ass up. The minus side? I’ll only get maybe four or five hours of sleep before breakfast and rehearsal.

Damn, damn, damn. What a double-edged sword this senior corps thing can be.

When I aged out of Junior corps, I would have given anything to be able to keep marching. Now that I’ve found a way, I find that I’m not entirely sold on it anymore. It would be different, maybe, if Aaron were into it too, and came with me. As it is, on drum corps weekends, I have to choose the corps or my husband.

I don’t know how much longer I can force myself to have to make that choice.

One more year, maybe.

*sigh*

ruminations 2 Comments

Overkill

Tacked onto the bottom of a forward I received today at work:

Hunt the terrorists to the ends of the earth. Since most of the people of the United States, indeed most of the world’s population, will not live their lives as the terrorists demand it the only way to make the world safe. The terrorists will not be allowed to rest, regroup, or lay low. Death, not capture, is the only way to deal with zealots who will not compromise on their goal of a non-tolerate Islamite one world religion/government.

The co-worker that forwarded the e-mail to me did so just so I could see this amazing worldview that someone had apparently included as a sig. WTF. We both agreed that this approach is just as scary as the terrorists’.

And… “non-tolerate”? “Islamite”? Way to convert the intelligent citizens of the U.S. to your cause.

otaku

Time To Go All Otaku On Your Ass

First, I would like to make you all aware of a new podcast out on the podwaves: the Weekly Anime Review Podcast. Which just so happens to be produced and hosted by one Aaron Schnuth.

Every Friday, Aaron will be reviewing a different anime; this week, he reviews Genshiken. He’s been trying to get me to watch this short series for some time now, but his podcast review was what finally drove me to drag it out of the stack o’ anime and watch it. (That, and coming to the end of my Muppet Show Season One DVDs.) I’m on episode three, but only because I’m pacing myself and not letting myself have a crazy Friday Night Genshiken-a-thon.

If you want to find out what it’s all about (both Genshiken and the podcast), check it out! Better yet, subscribe to the RSS feed in the podcast aggregator of your choice, and you’ll never miss a show.

If you’re at all interested in Japanese animation, I would highly suggest checking it out. And not just because my husband is the host. ^_^

Now that the WARP plug has been covered, on to Otaku topic #2: I need a cosplay idea for Youmacon in November.
Continue reading →