Day Nine

This is the scene at our 8am move. We lined stuff up in the hallway that was going to be loaded on the truck. Our line of stuff backed up past the m1 room. This one was a big move.

The dress rehearsal is in an hour. And will last probably the entire length of the phillies game. No worries. If there's anywhere online that's streaming the game, I'm on it. 

Day Eight

This is my percussion locker. Of course. It doesn't suck. Everyone in the studio has lockers (mostly). This one was occupied my freshman year, but after Ashley graduated, I jumped on it.

Tonight was funny. We have our concerts across campus (not in the music building where we keep all our equipment). So when we have concerts, we have to move all our stuff. Not fun. To save time the day of the move, we pack the night before. Meaning, we get all the stuff we need ready and put it in a pile in the middle of the perc ensemble room. 

We have a big storage closet in the basement where we keep all of our cases that we need for moves. Have you ever seen a marimba case? Have you ever seen a bass marimba case? I'm wishing now I'd taken a picture of it.... the thing is huge. Thankfully, Cogswell has a pretty large elevator to make tasks like moving gigantic marimba cases from the basement to the first floor pretty easy.

That is unless some giant toolbag tried to open the elevator doors in-between floors. I hate people. I hope that jack ass was trapped in the elevator for HOURS. We do have a second elevator in cogswell but it's too small to handle our business. So we had to carry it. What a debacle! The thing is huge. The stairwell is not. We got it up the stairs (remember that scene in friends where they're trying to move that couch up that tiny new york stairwell? it was like that). ONLY TO FIND OUT the stupid thing wouldn't fit through the doorway. Thankfully, our friends Roger and Leroy were there to save the day. They helped us out a TON by taking the door off the hinges for us. Sounds like a simple task but it's one of those huge heavy ass metal doors. No fun at all. They're good to us.

We had rehearsal for Vespertine after the pack. Every week I'm reminded how difficult that piece is. I had a pretty cool moment tonight though. I looked at the music and realized that two years ago it would have been the kind of piece I'd look at for a second then immediately disregard as "way too freaking hard" and move on to something else. Hooray for improvement. This was an intensity (the name of our percussion chamber ensemble since 'percussion chamber ensemble' sounds pretty weak) piece from a while back. Every time we play it I think of Guz and Wengert and how much I miss them both. And of course Andrew. It's crazy how little time it can take for people to become so important to you. 

Anyway I gotta get my ass to bed. That move tomorrow? Starts at 8am. And will probably go until... rough estimate? The end of time. I'm thinking.

Day Seven

Can you read it? EXACTLY 615 miles. Which, oddly enough, David and I split right down the center. I drove us from IUP to my Mom's house, then from my Mom's house into Philadelphia. David was kind enough to drive home from Philadelphia and back to IUP. This was what my speedometer read after I pulled in to my driveway in Indiana. And we did it all in less than 24 hours.

Totally worth it :)

Day Six

I considered going home to watch the world series in philadelphia. Or in Dover with my Dad. I decided instead to be a responsible adult and not drive all over creation just to watch a baseball game.

Then I changed my mind.

David had never seen Philadelphia and he was free all day so we went! We met up Sunday morning for some cafe food (with a tums/gas-x chaser) then hit the road. We got to my Mom's house around 6 or 7. I was pretty excited to see my Mom and the dogs. I got David his first cheese steak, which he loved, then we headed to the city. 

I'm not as city savvy as most, so we just went to South Street. We walked around for a while before settling in at Paddywacks. And since this is a day late, here's a picture I took from inside the place every high school/college kid winds up in when they go to south street...

Yep. Giant sperm.

David got Vince-o a penis whistle to cover his police whistle part in wind ensemble. No word yet on whether or not it will be (or has been) used. 

Speaking of vince-o, there was a drunk philadelphia version of him in the bar we were at. Similar mannerisms. Fun to watch drunk. The phillies won which was great. The whole last few innings people were chanting "__ MORE OUTS!!!" until they got to "ONE MORE OUT!!" and eventually "ONE MORE GAME!!" This trip definitely cured my homesickness. It was a bit of a tease though to only be home one night. I wish I'd decided sooner to go home. But I think watching the game at Doug and Mallrat's was what I needed to push my ass back to Philly. To think I could be telling that story for the next twenty five years ("I remember when they won!") and I was in pittsburgh at the time?! No way. I had to go home. 

David's lesson was on Monday. I was very tempted to stay another night to watch what could have been the last game of the world series. IN PHILADELPHIA! Lord knows the town would fucking lose it if they won. In philly! But I knew it was a bad idea to blow off real life for that long. Thankfully, they got rained out so I didn't miss much. Now, if only there are more rain delays putting the game on a Friday night...

Day Five

Can you see what this is? No? It's the Phillies. In the world series. I should have gone home this weekend! That's all I have time for tonight. Gotta watch this game!

*edit*

Not long after I posted this, was invited to a friend's house and watched the game on this...

Day Four

This is where I live. Tiff said she loves the way our street looks in the fall. So here folks, I'm sharing. I took this picture from the middle of the street as I was walking home. I believe my house is ahead on the right but I can't remember now which way I was facing when I took this. See the railroad crossing sign? I hate the train. It blows by us at a whopping 12mph every night, without fail, whenever you begin to drift off to sleep. Train noises don't bother me, but the guy blowing the whistle every 15 feet does. It's very loud. I don't like it. 

Day Three

I'm going to have to do three and four in the same day. Whoopsie. We had a late rehearsal last night, then I went all over creation to put air in my tires (which actually David did for me because cowboys are gentlemen and I am dumb). So. Here's the day three picture.

This is Nate Repp. Taken minutes after I took the picture of Tiffany. He chose this cheesey treat because it was inexpensive, delicious, and advertised by an orange phallus. If you look closely, you'll see it's wearing gloves and has orange residue on its fingertips. Either someone working for their advertising department is heart breakingly naive, or very, very clever. Either way, this bag entertained us.