if this doesn't put a smile on your face...

I don't know what will! :)
Enjoy!!

http://tinyurl.com/2fny2gf

and so my 8th year of teaching commences...

First day of Band Camp today and it certainly was a hot one...I must say that it really did go well and run like a well oiled machine. Tevin, one of my juniors, said something to the affect that he felt like a seasoned veteran out there helping others find their place on the field and figuring it all out. That made my heart glad because I remember when he joined us halfway into camp his freshman year. I had told the Line that I was in need of a fourth bass drummer and that they needed to be a big kid cause it's the biggest drum. Jeff (BD #3) told me his friend, Tevin, wanted to be on the Drum Line but he had no experience because he had been in orchestra up till then...I remembered Tevin from 6th and 7th grade orchestra so I told Jeff to bring him in. This poor kid...I literally threw the drum on him, piled on top of it all his music and drill book (of which we had been playing the music for a while and had learned half the drill), gave him a big smile and said "Let's go!". So for him to tell me that he felt confident in helping out those around him and was proud that he really understands what's going on made me happy. Maybe I am teaching these kids something...not just about music but about being a good person as well.

We gathered in the band room at Ruskin (man it's smaller and more cramped than Hickman's) for the first full band rehearsal of the new school year. *Remember*...we consolidated school's this year...we've combined two different programs, two different philosophies; in essence two *completely* different ways of doing things and I think it's going to work. Oh there were a few balkers to be sure, and definitely one who couldn't hack it, but I think it's gonna work...Anyways...after the welcomes, announcements and reminders we headed outside. Instantly we were hit with a wall of heat. Whoo0buddy it was hot today! I swear I lost 5lbs in sweat/water weight alone.

We started putting them through the paces of the fundamentals: Forward March, Drag Step, Right Slide, Left Slide, Crabsteps, Glide Step, *DON'T MOVE AT ATTENTION!!*, Mark Time, Parade Rest, "STOP FIDGETING!"...Toes UP!, Chin UP! Hands by your sides, *Snap* the movement, About Face, To The Rear..."I don't care if someone comes streaking through wearing nothing but saran wrap, DO.NOT.MOVE!".

I think they got the point. ;)

After the fundamentals we moved onto reading drill and plotting the first song. I swear...this drill is so easy they better nail it! NO EXCUSES! We successfully put the first drill on the field from start to finish and yes even though there are a lot of rough edges to smooth out, there's a lot of potential there to build upon.

Did you know that there are smart, logical thinking young men and women in our band who did not bring water with them to an outdoor rehearsal on astro-turf under a 90 degree-plus sun? I'll never understand it...never.

After the break was the classic drill-down...I'm sure that was an interesting experience for some. :) Spencer Jones (senior...can't believe it!), trumpet player was the grand winner. Congrats Spencer!!

Finally make it inside for 30minutes of music rehearsal and sweet Jesus hallelujah for air conditioning! That blast of cold air as I walked through the school doors was the most welcome thing in the world after spending darn near 3 hours out in the sun...on astro-turf in case you'd forgotten. Have you ever had the experience of your feet burning while standing on turf in the hot sun? It's quite interesting, but I don't recommend it for the faint of heart...you gotta be tough to work through heat like that.

Finally made it too noon and it was time to eat then have Drum Line rehearsal. Never have I devoured my food with such a hunger; I'm packing more for tomorrow cause what I took today didn't cut it. Ha! We wound up losing a rehearsal together because I wanted everyone to get their uniforms fitted and get that task out of the way but let me tell you that when we came back together after about 20minutes of sectional time something magical happened. We played through the piece we're taking to marching competition and it was beautiful. Rough around the edges? Yes. Needs dynamics? Yes. Needs movement? *Absolutely* but to have the pleasure of witnessing one of those early season miracles where everything gels together and sounds damn good, that my friends is what makes it all worth while.

F*** cancer. As long as I have my family, friends, and Drum Line...that's all I need in this crazy world to keep me sane. Looking forward to tomorrow. :)

summer is slipping away and I'm not ready yet...

The first day of band camp (which for me essentially is the first day of school) is rapidly approaching and I'm not ready yet. I'm not ready to wear a scarf on my head every day and answer the unending questions I'm sure students and teachers alike are going to have. I'm not ready to find out just how much these last 3 chemo's and my schedule of school are going to wear me out. I'm also anxious about doing a good job this year especially since I'll have the 8th grade orchestra as my own class...I'm just not ready yet...but I don't have any choice do I? 4 days and counting.

Currently I'm feeling: Not as stiff and sore but very anxious.
Procrastinating: Steam-mopping the floors again
Reading: Re-reading "The Concubine's Daughter"
Watching: The "O.G." Karate Kid
Doing to make me smile: Hell I don't know...go to the pool and clean the house I 'spose.

talked to a guy about a new pair of boobs today...

Funny. I never thought I'd be one to have fake boobies....but come October I will be and the process is going to take a LOT longer than I had originally anticipated. *sigh* That's a bummer. I had thought that it would be "simple", ya know, remove the old, replace it with the new, give me a couple of weeks to heal then back to normal life! WRONG! Yes they will remove the old but the "new" will be tissue-expanders that I will have to have pumped up every week or so for six weeks in order to stretch out the skin to make room for the long-term implant. This just sounds *lovely*! THEN I get to have the surgery where they replace the expanders with the long term implant and I'll have to heal from that. All told SIX WEEKS of healing. Sheesh. Six weeks away from school? Anyone understand FMLA cause I'm thinking this is something I'll need to look into. This is all so damn inconvenient, frustrating,and anxiety-inducing. The myriad of questions that arise in my brain threaten to overtake me. I think I need to take a nap.

oy vey i hurt today....

I did get little excited last night when it seemed the body aches weren't going to appear but boy howdy was I wrong! Between my shoulder and chest muscles still being so sore and the body aches w/nausea of chemo...I'm a hot mess right now. Left this morning to go to the chiropractor then swing down to school to get the skinny on the waxing schedule at Ruskin so I'd know whether or not we could have rehearsal this week. That trip alone wore me the *bleep* out. Whew! Took a two and a half hour nap when I got home but I still hurt. Blah. Blah. Vomit. OH well...just a few more days and I'll be fine. But I still would like someone to rub on me for just a bit...

a relaxing sunday to look forward too...

I'm starting to get the hang of this "relax mode" on the weekends. It still feels odd not having to get up and go to work on Saturday and Sunday, but not as weird as it used to feel. I've already progressed through a good portion of house chores that needed to be done, am downloading one of my favorite yoga practices so I can have it on my iPod and will venture out to GC to see everyone and have some champagne. Probably a nap later, and possibly in the sun if it stays out and doesn't rain.

Enjoy your relaxing Sunday everyone!

Currently I'm feeling: Not as stiff and sore today so that's nice. It's more in the muscles now instead of both the muscle and the ribhead.
Procrastinating: Steam-mopping the floors again.
Reading: Re-reading "The Concubine's Daughter".
Watching: The original Superman
Doing to make me smile: Getting the chores out of the way now instead of later.

halfway to the finish line today...

Chemo #3 out of the way today, *yay!*, only 3 more to go (Look Becki! I wore the scarf you gave me today!). It was non-traumatic again this time and I actually snoozed for a bit near the end as I gave into the lullaby of the muscle relaxer pill. Ahhhhhhh...cyclopedsabenzine take me away, or something like that.

I should feel fine today and tomorrow will start w/the nausea, then get hit w/the body aches and fatigue probably by Sunday night where it will go through it's regular cycle. It starts in my stomach w/the nausea which stays in kind of a "perma-nausea" state for the whole week, then it moves out to my hips and spreads across my lower back when the body aches it, then after a couple days it comes up into my throat and I get the "raw pukey throat" feeling along with the weird coating on the inside of my mouth. The final stage is when it moves through to my lips, which makes them feel swollen and super chapped. The throat, mouth, and lip stuff is definitely the weirdest out of all of them.

Oh well, at lest we're halfway through and I can kind of know what to expect now so that's nice. Find the silver linings where you can ya know?

*************************************

Currently I'm feeling: Not as stiff and sore today so that's nice. I'm also a bit tired right now but I think that's the muscle relaxer.
Procrastinating: Nothing really, just chillaxin' after Chemo.
Reading: Re-reading "Eat, Pray, Love"...still them I'm going to re-read either "Various flavors of Coffee", or "The Concubine's Daughter".
Watching: Flipping between Fear and Catch and Release.
Doing to make me smile: Getting and taking that muscle relaxer. I should've gotten one of those earlier!