We're the best you wanna know why?
(We're the best you wanna know why?)
We lift 'em up we lift 'em high!
(We lift 'em up we lift 'em high!)
And when we're ready to set them down
(And when we're ready to set them down)
We can be heard for miles around!
(We can be heard for miles around!)
We're Atlantic!
(We're Atlantic!)
We're Eagles!
(We're Eagles!)
We're Atlantic Marching Eagles!
(We're Atlantic Marching Eagles!)

Yesterday was so awesome!! I'll tell you the story.

Arrived at school at 11:15. All the gates were locked except for one, which was not big enough for a car to get through, so I got dropped off and walked around to the auditorium with David and Robbie. Erica and Cyndi were up there too. Then a whole bunch of people showed up, but we couldnt eat any of the food because mr. lerner was not there yet to let us into the band room and we had no utensils or plates. I left at about 5 till noon and joined my section in the cause. We cleaned everything. I was covered in tarn-X and 409. But I got almost all of the tape off of that bass drum. Then we grabbed some drumline food from the fridge and went down to the tables outside the cafeteria to steal flutes food too. But since I was giving chocolate only to percussionists, I ate only our food, except for a biscuit, which was stolen from the flutes. Anyway...

We all got our uniforms and loaded the truck and EVENTUALLY got on the buses. We got to Santaluces and then comes the best part. But I am preceding this by saying that this IS my senior moment, SO DON'T STEAL IT OR I'LL HURT YOU!!

We had gotten the instruments off the truck and were waiting to go to the warmup area. Me and leah were there and I asked some of the freshies if they were nervous for the sight marching. Leah soon joined in. We told them that they would be given music according to what they were playing in the show. At first, they didn't all buy it. Apparently no one pulled this one on Ashton last year, because she's like no, you guys are BSing us, we didn't do sight marching last year. Leah covered that one. "This is a new thing. They're trying it out in a few states. It's like a pilot program." Nick wasn't going to buy it either. "I have a sister who was in this band." But then we covered that again with the pilot program excuse. JT came over slightly out of breath, and said guys, it's true! I just asked AJ and he said there's sight marching. LMAO!!!! And then there's mass confusion (Ashton: "Oh my god! I can't read bass clef music!!") and someone says let's go ask a band parent. They won't lie to us. Right then Mr. Lerner walked over. I must admit, at this point I was a little bit disappointed because I thought he'd blow it.
One of the freshies: Mr. Lerner, are we going to have to do sight marching?
Mr. Lerner: Oh, guys, don't worry about that. It's not part of our rating.
It was at this point that I nearly lost it. I could not believe he was playing along!!
Freshie: Well what do we have to do for it?
Lerner: There's a sheet of 64 counts that you have to memorize, and there's drill on the back.
Freshies: And we have like 3 minutes to do this?!
Lerner: No, I'm pretty sure we get 10.
A few freshies and Ashton: I can't memorize music! It took me like two weeks to memorize this show!
Lerner: Guys, don't stress out about this, it's not that big of a deal. We do it right after we perform and it's not part of our rating. Just do the best you can.
They all started to freak out then. It was the funniest thing to happen ever. Mr. Lerner earned HUGE points with me for this one.

So then we went around the track to warm up, did a few wrist things, and then joined the band to go through the show. While me and Leah were playing, the marimba made a new sound. CLANK CLANK CLANK hmm..that can't be good. Turns out, the resonators were bent, and were hitting the keys. We needed to pull them back somehow. So we went and asked some band parents for string to tie them into place, but they didn't have any. Mrs. Tubbs had to sacrifice her backpack to the cause. She cut off the elastic thingy on the front so we could use it, and it worked perfectly!! She's our hero!

So we got out onto the track, and it started raining a little bit. Then the rest of the band go there, and it started raining a lot. We threw ponchos over the marimbas and the vibes and ran with the band into the concessions area for cover. It stopped raining and we started to come out. As soon as we all were out, it rained again, and we all ran back. It stopped raining again, and we came out to perform no matter what. We were setting everything up and Steven came up to me and said Oh no...we forgot the table. We ended up taking the cover for the bells to put all the toys on. It worked out fine though, so it's all good.

We fell apart in the first song, and I thought we blew it. All that went through my head was that we had it, and just watched it fly away. It seemed like an eternity to recover. However, on tape review, which I watched this morning, we fell apart for like 2 measures. It was bad, but it was short. The rest sounded SO GOOD!!! Sorry, it didn't sound good, it sounded superior! While we were getting everything packed back up to try to get off the field, it POURED. It was actually hailing, which sounds really cool on a tympani, but I can't imagine it's too great for the instruments. The resonators on Vinh's marimba filled up with water. Tom says that it's not that bad, but we do have to like take the thing apart and turn it upside down so that nothing grows in it.

While we were standing ..somewhere on the campus that was under cover, Mr. Lerner came and told us how proud he was of us blah blah blah and that we were not staying, which pissed me off. And we didn't even get a picture! :-( But then he said that he had our scores. *drumroll* "Marching got a 2. General effect 2. One of the music judges gave you a 1. And the other music judge also gave you a 1 so you got a one overall. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! OMG!! We did it!! Superior!!! WHOO!! Lots of screaming, lots of crying, lots of hugging. Mostly just screaming and hugging from me. No crying. But it was a really good feeling to be back. I say we omit last year and have our record of superiors continue from like 16 years ago.

We loaded the buses, rather wet, but really happy. Mr houchins came on and asked if there were any drumline people on the bus. A few hands went up, frankly, I wasn't sure if pit counted in that or not, but then he said I just wanted you guys to know that percussion also recieved a superior. MORE SCREAMING! YAY!! So great.

After that, I just couldn't help it. Had to start the cheer. By the time I got to the "We're atlantic!" part though, I had thought that other people were going to join in with me, like saying the things first, so I quick motioned to krystle to yell it with me. It was cool though. The whole bus did it. ^_^ Funfun. In the band room after we got back Amanda Jaeger came up to me and was like thanks Lauren. I was like whoa...what? What did I do? She said For the cheer. Wasn't it you who started it on the bus. I was like ohhh...yea. It needed to be done.

Afterwards, after we got ourselves organized enough to leave that is, a bunch of us went out to Outback to celebrate. That was so much fun. I beat Amy once again in a lemon eating contest, so I successfully defended my title. I think that means that I am the permanent champion, since it happens only after festival. This was amy's last year.

After we finished figuring out the check, we all went outside where I relayed the story of the sight-marching. Kristen said that Steven, JT, and Vinh came up to her afterwards to ask why we didn't do the sight marching. They were so confused. LMAO!

So now that we got a superior, we can dress up for the halloween game. Not that I'm going. I have sweetness tickets to the 311 concert. Rock! So that's about it. Great day.

2 TOUCH THE WATER!!!s | LeAvE a PiEcE oF yOuR mInD!