Hostage

Last night at precisely 9:12 I got a frantic phone call from my friend Harry: "You live near Mine Hill, right???"
"...yes?"
"Do you know where Delphi Road is?"
"Umm...it sounds familiar but I'm not sure exactly---"
"Okay nevermind, I have to go!"

Then at 9:33, he called again: "Do you know where Meng or Yerger Road is?"
"Yeah, I know where those are."
"Okay, are you busy tonight?"
"Not really."
"I'm outside your house. Get out here and jump in the car."

So I did.

I got in and Jeremy was sitting in the passenger seat on the phone with Meaghan and Kaitlin. As they were frantically shouting directions to him and road names I took them to Meng Road (which, by the way, is a creepy backroad in the middle of the woods with absolutely no street lights) and we drove and drove and then saw two figures jumping up and down. It was Meaghan and Kaitlin. They ran to the car, got in, and we sped away to the high school.

I was now involved in a game called Hostage.

The rules of the game are pretty simple. There are two teams with at least four people, with two cars and blindfolds. Two members of each team get into the opposing team's car and are blindfolded so they don't know where they're going.

Both cars then drive away from the starting location (which was the high school) and have 15 minutes to get as far away and as in as remote a place as possible. The blindfolded team members are then dropped off wherever the car is when the time runs out.

Then the goal is for the teams to find their teammates who were taken "hostage" and make it back to the high school before the other team.

And one last thing...no GPS allowed.

I got picked up in Round 1, when Meaghan and Kaitlin were the hostages and dropped off in the creepy woods behind my house, and Harry and Jeremy were their teammates who had to find them.

We got back to the high school and there were a TON of people there. There were four different teams, and we did "Winners vs. Losers" after each round.

Round 2 I was in Harry's car again and our hostages were my friends Grace and Blaise. We dropped them off in a secluded area in Phoenixville, and then called Meaghan and Jeremy (our other teammates) to find out where to go pick them up. After about 15/20 minutes, we found them wandering the backroads of Skippack. Just typing it out, it sounds REALLY simple to find them, but it's REALLY hard. You're on the phone with two people who have no idea where they are and all the clues you get are, "We're in the woods...we see hills! There's a house...not really well lit. The speed limit here is 25! Oh...it changed to 35! WE FOUND A ROAD SIGN! Cressman Road? Do you know that road? Now we're on Church Road!" Thankfully we knew Cressman was off of 113 in Skippack, and then we were able to found Church Road.

Round 3 I was a hostage along with Harry and Meaghan. We got in my friend John's car (thankfully I knew everyone playing and it wasn't like total strangers), put blindfolds on, and then were raced around for 15 minutes. After the time was up, we got out of the car, and immediately sprinted our BUTTS away to find the nearest road sign or anything to ID where we were. 30 seconds into running though, Harry stopped and was like, "Guys. I know EXACTLY where we are." So then we just had to call Gerard and Tyler (the people picking us up) and let them know. Not so exciting but it's still freaky being on a dark road at around midnight and waiting for someone to come pick you up...haha.

We're getting another group together soon...I think I'm gonna be a driver next round. I know some pretty good spots to drop people... ;D

Totally Different Perspective

Grad Party!

Yesterday I had my grad party, and it was AWESOME. I've never been one for having parties at my house so my family and I were all kinda freaking out about it...cleaning EVERYTHING, setting up chairs outside, figuring out food, getting a volleyball net, decorating...but it all worked out. :)

It was really great seeing friends from school...you get used to seeing them every single day and then all of a sudden they're gone when summer hits. So it was good. :)

I also got to see some S. friends!!! Jenny, Luke, and Sam came, which was great. :) When Jenny walked in we plopped ourselves down on the couch and just talked for like 15 minutes...I figured other people could entertain themselves outside well enough, haha.

Me and Jenny!

Me, Jenny, Luke, and Sam.

Sean also came, which I was NOT expecting. He's training to be in the army, specifically infantry, and he leaves in two weeks to go to boot camp so I know he's crazy busy right now. But around 7:30 I looked up and saw this military man walk in. At first I assumed it was someone's dad or friend here to pick them up...and then I realized it was MY friend. MY Sean. I almost cried. It's one thing knowing one of your best friend's is going into the army, it's a completely different thing seeing them actually in uniform.

Me and Sean. :)

It was such a fun night...I love my friends. :) As I said in a school project I did when I was 5 (my mom brought out a lot of artwork and writing I did when I was little), "The Best Thing About Me Is: I have lots of friends". 

ROOMMATE!!!

I now officially have a roommate! When Housing options first came around I didn't request anyone because A) I didn't know anybody, and B) I was fine with the luck of the draw...being in the Honors College I seriously doubted I would end up with a complete wacko.

BUT. That has all changed! I'm a member of the Millersville Honors College on facebook and a couple days ago they created a subgroup for Fall 2012 Honors College New Members. So we've been all friending each other and messaging and all that good stuff. I've met a bunch of people who are TOTALLY AWESOME which makes me TOTALLY EXCITED about moving in. :)

The first conversation I had with this one girl, Taylor, she brought up that she saw I had done Indoor Percussion and we got into the whole story of how I ended up on Bass 4 my junior year. Out of curiosity I asked her if she knew what DCI was...AND SHE SAID YES. Do you know how many people DON'T know what drum corps is? I was so ecstatic when I heard that...and then I found out we both love camping and Disney movies and a whole bunch of other stuff...and now we're roommates! :D

AppScat

So my favorite female jazz singer is not only RIDICULOUSLY talented, she's also insanely funny...watch. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seLXWJ1N5E0&list=UUZn1Ueo6cQ5TMCMTUur1mKA&index=10&feature=plcp

Little Sample of the Show :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rcfdc_enQEE

DCI Akron (in theaters)

Tonight was the preview of the first shows of the top six corps from last year. WHEW that was a confusing sentence to write...

Time to write thoughts on the shows!!! In order of appearance.

• Blue Stars with the show The Blue Way: Some nice drill ideas, but it wasn't executed very well. Sloppy movement, but the music overall was entertaining and had some nice moments.

• Phantom Regiment with the show Turnadot: Pleasing to listen to with three ballads. Definitely a more difficult book (music and drill) than last year, but still not pushing it as much as I think they could. Great sound though...love their tubas. Some out-of-step feet and not polished drill, but overall, really entertaining.

• Carolina Crown with the show For the Common Good: Disclaimer...Crown is my absolute favorite corps so I'm biased toward them a bit. That aside...their show was phenomenal. INCREDIBLY difficult...insane drill that was great to watch. I love how they opened with Copland's theme "For the Common Man" and brought that back throughout the show. Their drumline was REALLY dirty though.

• Cavaliers with the show 15 Minutes of Fame: WHAT THE HECK??? Soooo not the Cavies I'm used to! It was choppy...did not flow musically. The guard was very obnoxious to me, got me annoyed and I just couldn't enjoy the show. I don't like the direction they're taking it. Only good thing to say is that their tubas had a nice moment and their pit was good.

• Cadets with the show 12.25: It's...Christmas. A drum corps is doing a CHRISTMAS show. Just getting my head around that...weird. It wasn't as terrible as I expected. It works, but it's not my favorite. They were very gimmicky with it, and I don't like that at all. Drill was great though, and the music was nice...some fantastic moments. Just...odd. I wasn't sold.

• Bluecoats with the show UnMasqued: Disclaimer...David is marching his second year with them so I'm biased. BUT...even if he wasn't with them, their show would have been one of my top two favorites of the night. Really emotional and deep...which a lot of the other shows didn't have. The performance was classy and incredibly strong. Fantastic hornline sound, and their DRUMLINE. HOLY COW I was wooting and hollering in the theater! And the cool part was that I wasn't the only one...there was an INSANELY sick bass run in there. The music left an impression (I walked out humming some of the tunes) and the drill was cool and also CLEAN...which was impressive. I like the first half of the show better than the second half, so I think that's my only complaint...but it was great.

Best part of the night? As the Bluecoats were leaving the field, they took their helmets off, AND I SAW DAVID. I first recognized one of his friends I met last year, Mike, but then I saw him and I screamed his name in the very quiet theater. I was very excited. :)