Something that has nothing to do with the anime world whatsoever. Marching Band. Yep, I'm in marching band and it freakin' rules! My teacher is Mr. Detato(aka Mr. Potato when the band is feeling silly) and out Drum Major (marching band conductor) is my friend Amy. I'm going to be a veteran for my first year because I was a rookie last year. The reason I'm bringing all of this up now instead of during school (yeah, I said the s-word... wait, not that s-word! *ahem*) is because we had a summer practice a couple days ago. We're gonna have two more practices and then comes BAND CAMP. Yes, marching band has a camp. You laugh and I'll get all of our seniors to jump you. (Don't worry, I'm kidding...) Anyway, it's basically 2 1/2 school weeks of blood, sweat and tears. Ok, maybe not blood.... but there's a lot of sweat and maybe some tears. We get our music done and memorized as best as we can (we perfect it during school year practices and a lot before we do any shows or football games) and then we start learning the marching to go along with the music and then our whole show. But we march and learn our show on a big field behind my school in mostly 90 degree August weather. That's where all the sweat comes in... The tears come in when one of our drill instructors, Lisa, whacks you in the heels if you don't march correctly. But then Greg, our other drill instructor, (we have 2) graces us with a water break. We love Lisa, but she can be your best friend and worst enemy at the same time. She just works us really hard. But that's what marching band is all about. Band camp runs from 8:00 in the morning to 4:30. At least we get an hour off of last years schedule because it used to be from 8:00 to 5:30. Usually everyone is about to fall over at the end of the day but it feels good to know that the band has conquered yet another day of band camp. And then there's practice once school starts. We have practice Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 3:15 after school to 6:00. Monday we have off and every Friday we go to a football game that's either away or home. Football games are so much fun to be at! If our school's team is playing home, we get to play our show before the game starts. If our team's playing away, we play during half-time. And during the game we play fight songs! It's so much fun! One time we actually got to play Kashmir by Led Zepplin. But anyway, fight songs really get your feet tapping and team spirit going. Usually all of us get really hyper during football games because of all of the fight song playing and the candy we get from the food stands! We also play at competitions for awards almost every Saturday or sometimes Sunday, but that's rare. Last year, we mostly got second place and first place at competitions. But that doesn't really matter. Having fun playing awesome music and having fun with what you're dedicated to doing is all that matters. Dedication comes first, because without it, everyone in our band would've quit by now and it's not even the begining of school yet! Fun comes whenever you feel like it. Whether it's during the show, during a solo you might have, or after the show when you're explaining to your family how awesome it was for the hundreth time but all they say in reply is, "Yes, honey, we know. We were there to watch you play and you had a smile on the whole time..." Or after the show when most of the band goes to IHOP at freakin' 12:00 at night to celebrate a first place at a competition... Yeah, we're just that awesome. Marching band takes a lot of work, concentration, and stamina, but it's all worth it when you're holding that first place trophy in the middle of a band geek mosh pit. The whole band is kept together with teamwork, helping each other out, and spurring each other on. Marching band's not an easy thing to do, but I love it. In the words of a bunch of wise veterans during my rookie year, "If you can't take marching band, go play for the football team!"

For those of you who are band people or just want to know, this year's show for our band has a video game theme and consists of the Halo Theme, the opening theme from Civilization IV, and Attack on Fort Schmerzen from Medal of Honor.