rose bowl week activities: a summary
12/30 -- First day of rehearsals. My mom came to watch the morning one. She brought me goodies for my apartment, which was VERY quiet without Thea. I decorated a little but we had a gig that night at the Grove. When we had our free time to run amok a few of us camped out in the kids section of Barns & Andrew and Pippi read us Yurtle the Turtle. Yay.
12/31 -- We did the Bandfest gig in the rain. The feathers on our helmets bled all over my gloves and I also have a pink spot on the front of my uniform. Then we got TWO! In-N-Out burgers for lunch. That was exciting. But of course we had to go back to campus and do another rehearsal but it was inside Bovard because it was still raining. That night there was a band new year's eve party that I didn't go to because I took a pain killer and passed out at 8pm instead.
1/1 -- Rehearsal then Disneyland. I met up with my mom when we got there and we did the monorail, haunted mansion then she beat the crap out of me at Buzz Lightyear. Then I had to go find the band and get ready for the gig. We did this one without helmets cause it was STILL wet. We got to march down Main Street and through the park. It was really fun. And I got to stand in front in Thea's spot so my mom could see me. She's so funny because she has no rhythm but I love her anyways. Thank god we got to leave right after the gig was over because of the parade and 4am call time. Oh and I saw the Alabama A&M band there too.
1/2 -- Woke up at 3:15am. Might as well have not slept. Oh well. I can't believe it rained on the Rose Parade...third time ever and first time since the 50's. But seeing as it was the 117th Rose Parade I guess it was inevitable. So we busted out the ponchos and put the helmets away. Now it had been raining the past few days but it was absolutely POURING that morning. Even with the poncho I was totally soaked down to my underwear and my poor brand new piccolo pads were ruined (or so I thought but I dried them out with cigarette paper later, and they're ok now). I watched the rebroadcast later and found myself on tv, maybe y'all did too but I didn't get a close up or anything special. Thank god I got through the parade and didn't get sick. I didn't see my mom but other flutes heard her yelling for me. Oh well. The best part was after we finished they passed out bottles of water for us and we had a water fight because, well it wasn't like we could possibly get any wetter than we already were. And we got another TWO! In-N-Out burgers. We ate them on the bus sitting in our wet uniforms watching the Texas band on the other side of the street frantically packing up instruments and stuff as we got a sudden downpour and sheets of rain. We got a break, long enough for a nap then we headed to Universal Studios CityWalk to do a gig. I saw Alabama A&M band people there too. Oh and I spent most of my per diem money I had been saving at Hot Topic =) Then a few of us headed back to the bus early and had story time and Connor entertainment....good times.
1/3 -- Morning rehearsal inside then afternoon rehearsal outside. Then we had our surprise which I already knew about *muahaha* : meeting the drummer from System of a Down, and we played Toxicity and Aerials for him. We also got our bowl gifts: a track/warm up suit and a Rose Bowl tshirt (mooooore $$).
1/4 -- GAMEDAY. We had one last gameday rehearsal then it was off to the Rose Bowl with our police escort. There's nothing cooler than having the power to shut down the freeway. It was crazyness when we got there. Texas and USC fans everywhere. And protesters. We don't even know what they were protesting. They had signs saying God will kill you, and Jesus caused the tsunami. Strange, strange people. I saw my mom as we marched down the tunnel and then again when we got in the stadium and found out her seat was two rows behind the band. Yay! I'm not gonna say anything about the game because the experience is indescribable and you wouldn't understand unless you were there. I will say however that we were a million times cooler than the Texas band. After a long, quiet ride back to campus we turned in uniforms and I drove back to my apartment and went to bed.
That brings me to today. I am sore all over, especially my ankles and my feet are blistered and my voice is quasi-gone. I didn't even get out of bed til 1pm and then I drove home. I went to Wal-Mart and as I was walking in there was a guy yelling at me trying to get my attention, but he wasn't with an organization asking for a donation or anything, it was just a random guy so I thought it was best to ignore him and go about my business. I didn't see him when I came out and thought nothing of it but then I went to Target and the SAME GUY was sitting outside yelling at me again saying I tried to talk to you at Wal-Mart etc. and at that point I was really creeped out but I ignored him again and went inside. I decided that if he was there when I left I would call the police or something but he wasn't there and I was relieved but I didn't know if he would try to follow me to my car or what.
So anyway, it's been really hot today and we're supposed to have perfect beach weather tomorrow, so that's exactly what I intend on doing. I'll be here til Saturday afternoon then back to LA because school starts on Monday....I'm less than excited about that. But for now, I rest.
12/31 -- We did the Bandfest gig in the rain. The feathers on our helmets bled all over my gloves and I also have a pink spot on the front of my uniform. Then we got TWO! In-N-Out burgers for lunch. That was exciting. But of course we had to go back to campus and do another rehearsal but it was inside Bovard because it was still raining. That night there was a band new year's eve party that I didn't go to because I took a pain killer and passed out at 8pm instead.
1/1 -- Rehearsal then Disneyland. I met up with my mom when we got there and we did the monorail, haunted mansion then she beat the crap out of me at Buzz Lightyear. Then I had to go find the band and get ready for the gig. We did this one without helmets cause it was STILL wet. We got to march down Main Street and through the park. It was really fun. And I got to stand in front in Thea's spot so my mom could see me. She's so funny because she has no rhythm but I love her anyways. Thank god we got to leave right after the gig was over because of the parade and 4am call time. Oh and I saw the Alabama A&M band there too.
1/2 -- Woke up at 3:15am. Might as well have not slept. Oh well. I can't believe it rained on the Rose Parade...third time ever and first time since the 50's. But seeing as it was the 117th Rose Parade I guess it was inevitable. So we busted out the ponchos and put the helmets away. Now it had been raining the past few days but it was absolutely POURING that morning. Even with the poncho I was totally soaked down to my underwear and my poor brand new piccolo pads were ruined (or so I thought but I dried them out with cigarette paper later, and they're ok now). I watched the rebroadcast later and found myself on tv, maybe y'all did too but I didn't get a close up or anything special. Thank god I got through the parade and didn't get sick. I didn't see my mom but other flutes heard her yelling for me. Oh well. The best part was after we finished they passed out bottles of water for us and we had a water fight because, well it wasn't like we could possibly get any wetter than we already were. And we got another TWO! In-N-Out burgers. We ate them on the bus sitting in our wet uniforms watching the Texas band on the other side of the street frantically packing up instruments and stuff as we got a sudden downpour and sheets of rain. We got a break, long enough for a nap then we headed to Universal Studios CityWalk to do a gig. I saw Alabama A&M band people there too. Oh and I spent most of my per diem money I had been saving at Hot Topic =) Then a few of us headed back to the bus early and had story time and Connor entertainment....good times.
1/3 -- Morning rehearsal inside then afternoon rehearsal outside. Then we had our surprise which I already knew about *muahaha* : meeting the drummer from System of a Down, and we played Toxicity and Aerials for him. We also got our bowl gifts: a track/warm up suit and a Rose Bowl tshirt (mooooore $$).
1/4 -- GAMEDAY. We had one last gameday rehearsal then it was off to the Rose Bowl with our police escort. There's nothing cooler than having the power to shut down the freeway. It was crazyness when we got there. Texas and USC fans everywhere. And protesters. We don't even know what they were protesting. They had signs saying God will kill you, and Jesus caused the tsunami. Strange, strange people. I saw my mom as we marched down the tunnel and then again when we got in the stadium and found out her seat was two rows behind the band. Yay! I'm not gonna say anything about the game because the experience is indescribable and you wouldn't understand unless you were there. I will say however that we were a million times cooler than the Texas band. After a long, quiet ride back to campus we turned in uniforms and I drove back to my apartment and went to bed.
That brings me to today. I am sore all over, especially my ankles and my feet are blistered and my voice is quasi-gone. I didn't even get out of bed til 1pm and then I drove home. I went to Wal-Mart and as I was walking in there was a guy yelling at me trying to get my attention, but he wasn't with an organization asking for a donation or anything, it was just a random guy so I thought it was best to ignore him and go about my business. I didn't see him when I came out and thought nothing of it but then I went to Target and the SAME GUY was sitting outside yelling at me again saying I tried to talk to you at Wal-Mart etc. and at that point I was really creeped out but I ignored him again and went inside. I decided that if he was there when I left I would call the police or something but he wasn't there and I was relieved but I didn't know if he would try to follow me to my car or what.
So anyway, it's been really hot today and we're supposed to have perfect beach weather tomorrow, so that's exactly what I intend on doing. I'll be here til Saturday afternoon then back to LA because school starts on Monday....I'm less than excited about that. But for now, I rest.