It’s been a long time since I’ve written a blog entry. But that’s because this past week has been long. I’m not that it’s been abysmal. It’s just been long. It’s mid-term week. That’s to be expected.
So mid-terms happened. I generally hate midterms, and mine this week were no exception. Nothing says fun like a long test designed to punish you for living. I had two this week. One for English and one for Computer Architecture. I destroyed English and I don’t think I did too poorly on Computer Architecture. Of course, Professor August decided to test on something that he went over briefly in the second lecture and never stressed again. Kind of an asshole move really. *shrugs* Not much can be done now. I studied for the exam and that was just out of left field. Sucks to be us I guess.
Besides midterms, I took a trip up to New York City on Tuesday with my Digital Photo class to see an exhibit at the International Photo Center. It was a really nifty show with lots of cool great pictures and some neat video projects. I also stayed up in NYC and had dinner with Amalea, which was a good time. I also go to go into the NYU library based solely on the fact that my Princeton ID was valid.
Thursday was fun. Being the last party day before break, it was unofficially Halloween; which meant seeing the live production of the Rocky Horror picture show. Nicole and I went with a bunch of our friends; mainly to support our other friends, who were in the cast. This year, Patrick was Brad Majors (asshole!), Sarah was Janet (slut!) and Melissa was Magenta. As well as the rest of the cast made up of various friends of mine. Because it was Halloween, I decided I would go as Pat. I even got Nicole to go as Melissa. It was fun, and I found out why Pat where’s some of the stuff he does. It’s friggen’ comfortable. So that was a good time. (Congrats to the cast by the way, you guys were awesome!)
Then this past weekend, I had the Harvard football game to go to. Now, the game itself was pretty uneventful, although I did get to bang Harvard’s eight foot bass drum. What was really fun was our march around. For away games, the band likes to go play in various places around the campus we are visiting, and Harvard is no exception. Of course, the people at Harvard don’t seem to like us, to this makes it more fun.
The first stop is the main quad where there is a statue of John Harvard. I’m not sure why he’s so important to the school, but, we always like to play a few tunes in front of the statue. Being the conductor, this means I have to climb up the statue, but that just makes it more fun. Did I mention that this time, there were something like sixty oriental tourists standing around. It was definitely amusing.
Next came the Harvard library. This is where crazy things begin happening. Normally, we don’t completely enter the library where we are. We just kind of go in as far as the security point and just play there. Well, this time, we didn’t. Mainly because our president, decided to go in further. Well, when the security guard went after him, the rest of the band flowed in while his back was turn. I followed and we ended up in one of the main areas of the library. We finished, and I ran out. I had to break a grab by the security guard to get out, but I was good. So while I’m waiting for the rest of the band to get out, I realize that they had started playing…again. And they were coming out playing. I was a bit worried, seeing as how I had seen the security guard calling the Harvard Department of Public Safety. So we finish playing the second song and we head out, as the cops arrive.
Our next target was the prestigious, and obnoxiously snooty, Inn at Harvard. This place was begging to be hit. Especially after the manager asked us to finish warming up quickly because we were disturbing his guests. Little did he know that we would be back. Upon our return, the band filled into the center area and kept playing. What was funnier was that some of the band members took the steps up to the balconies. So on one balcony, I had two trombones and a tenor sax playing, on another, I had my lead trumpet Amy. As we are finishing up the first song, I signaled another. I knew this would be fun. Of course, as I’m conducting, an old man comes up yelling, asking “What moron is in charge here?” Now, I pointed to our president, but apparently he thought I was pointing to one of the other drummers, Jim. The old man ends up stealing one of Jim’s sticks (this is why I bought a stick bag and generally carry two pairs of sticks with me). So, we finished playing and head outside, thinking our bus would be there to whisk us away quickly.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t there. Since being a moving target would make us harder to hit, we decided we should get moving. We then have the bright idea, let’s go play somewhere else. As if we hadn’t caused enough of a disturbance. We decided that the Art Museum was just to conveniently close to be passed up. So, we get to the place and find out that it’s been closed to the public for a private party (they had a sign outside saying so). Of course, I debate if we should do this. I mean, maybe this could be a bad idea, I don’t even know if the doors are open and…
Before I can really make a decision, one of our dms, Ben, picks up the sign and moves it to the side. Apparently it was now open to the public. So we go in there. Now, I love the reaction I get from people when the don’t realize what’s about to happen. The woman at the front desk was like, “I’m sorry, we’re closed for a private party, we’ll be open at 10.” Yeah, I wasn’t planning on coming back.
So, I look around, and they try telling me again. What I was actually doing was stalling to get more people inside. Mainly the Tubas and drums, because they can start tequila without me counting them off. I looked to the tubas as the people at the front desk were trying to explain and mouthed, “Start Tequila when you’re ready.” I walk up to the president and tell him, “they’re (the sousaphones) going to start, and I can’t stop them.” At that moment, the tubas start, the band then begins entering the Art Museum. Now, the people behind the desk flip out, and start trying to get them to stop. I know they aren’t, because I’m not going to tell them to (unless I’m going to get arrested and not our president). So, I begin running around, pretending to attempt to cut them off. I put on this show about how the band isn’t listening to me. In fact, I walked out of the building and walked back in. What was really cool was looking up and seeing the people at the private event come out to see what was going on. It was quite funny.
Of course, we once again were in a position where we would have to run away. As we take off, someone points out the president wasn’t with us. Apparently one of our members got into a mix-up with the director. I don’t really know, nor do I want to. But our president had to try and calm things over as best he can before hightailing it out of there. Fortunately, the bus was there this time and our escape was made in just the nick of time.
Everything else was pretty much standard. Although Pat, Melissa, and I stayed with Alice, Pat’s ex, which was fun. Alice is the master of her house’s (apparently house’s are like eating clubs and dorms mixed together) grille, and she got us some food which was really awesome of her. So there was that, and having one of the worst bus drivers, ever. The man was so bad, we ended up having to stop at the Palisades Mall in Rockland County, New York to get food because he kept missing places in Connecticut. *shrugs*
So yeah, it’s been a pretty crazy couple week.
Life and Times
