Not Even Wednesday Anymore

   Happy Wednesday, everybody. Hope you're all having a great week so far.
   My week so far has been completely insane. After Sunday, which really wasn't all that relaxing, I had school followed immediately by work Monday, robotics and band Tuesday, and work tonight. Tomorrow I have a hair cut and band, and then work Friday, and finally more band on Saturday. So quite the week ahead, still.
   Work was pretty easy Monday night, but on Tuesday Nik and I found out that the new robotics website (which we're in charge of) needs to be live ASAP (as in that day). So, after coding our asses off until midnight, it still isn't totally completed, but it's going live anyway. What we have will have to be good enough, because the website that currently exists is just an absolute disaster. There so many pages that neither Nik, nor I have seen all of them (it was created before either of us joined), and just about every single one of those pages has some sort of bug, ranging from a minor thing you may not even notice to a massive, site-breaking problem. So our director's decision was to nuke the whole thing and start from scratch.
   After robotics, Nik and I went to marching band rehearsal, which was really, really boring for some reason. I don't usually think the repetition is boring. It probably has something to do with the fact that I am just totally exhausted.
   Speaking of which, it's already not Wednesday anymore, so I should probably cut this post short. Be sure to check out the Nerds Under Fire website, we just updated our art page with some new work, and new artists. Also be sure to find my podcast Pokecast.
   Plug plug plug plug plug.
   I think that's about it. See you all on Friday!

Tacos,
Gladdstone

A Little Sore

   Hi everybody. So I've been gone for a couple weeks, and if you follow www.nerdunderfire.com you know it's because my computer sort of wet the bed. Luckily, I've gotten my old one fixed and tuned up so you can expect everything to slide back into place.
   I had a bit of an experience yesterday. Not only was I in a car crash, I walked away unscathed. My friends and I were on a road trip up to some waterfalls to go hiking and do some photography shots, when my friend made a left turn, not seeing the oncoming car.
   I was lucky enough to be in the passenger seat.
   Thank God, I saw the car coming and unleashed a string of obscenities the likes of which have never been heard on this earth just in time to make my friend stop the car. Both airbags deployed, but thankfully the most severe injury was my friend who was driving who got his hand on what we think were his keys. Even my iPad was okay.
   To be honest, I feel like I should be a bit more worried. I could have died if we hadn't stopped quickly. At the very least I would have been injured pretty badly. But I'm not. In fact, I shook the whole thing off pretty fast. Which is more than I can say for the guy in the other car. Man, he was livid. I understand that he might be a bit mad, it was our fault, and we did damage his car, but they're called accidents for a reason, right? There really is no reason to be cursing me out while I just try to make sure everyone's okay.
   His friend was funny (in the way giant dicks can be). He seemed to have it in his head that we were gonna run away or something. He kept yelling at us not to move and to stay next to the car. Like we're just gonna run off into the woods or something. What a dumbass.
   Anyway, it's time to move on. I'm just glad the whole thing is over. The car is probably totaled, but my friend is only getting a few points on his license, and he's going to appear in court and see if he can't get the charge reduced a bit. I think everyone should just be thankful no one was hurt and move on. I got a few pictures after the fact so maybe I'll put those up one of these days.
   On a slightly happier tone, we had our first marching band competition of the season last Saturday in Corning. Our visual was absolute shit, but the music was fantastic. I mean, we just sounded great, and I loved every second of it. We took first place in our division (Small School 3) with a score of 69. That's 3 or 4 higher than the second place band, if I remember correctly.
   Glad to see we're starting my last year off on the right note (get it? Huh? Get it?). It really bodes well for Dome this year.
   See you all on Wednesday.

Tacos,
Gladdstone

Misleading Assignments

   That's it! Here we are, Friday has come at last, and that means I have officially survived my first week as a senior! Crazy to think how far I've come.
   The past two days have been pretty busy. It was all standard stuff during the day Thursday (except for AP Physics, but I'll get to that in a minute), however, I had to work that night-sadly missing marching band practice the night before our first football game.
   Now as I may or may not have stated before, I recently left my job as a grocery store clerk to be a busser at an upper class restaurant a little farther from my house. It's fairly easy work, and both the tips and hours are fabulous, so I'm loving it so far. Anyway, I was working last night, and we close at 9:30 on Thursday nights (or at least we stop accepting walk ins). I'm in the back cleaning the bread station and my manager is up front about to lock the doors when these door ginormous assholes walk in.
   I would like to take this moment to clarify, yes, they were huge asses. And yes, like that South Park episode.
   Anyway, they sat down and of course got appetizers, then entrees, and then OF COURSE they had to have desert. Long story short, it turns out they've done this more than once (most likely so they can have the restaurant to themselves) and I didn't get home until 11:30. Then I still had to do my homework.
   And while we're on the subject of homework, let me say that the AP Physics homework is SUPER misleading. He assigned two problems the first night. Just two. It took an hour. Why, you ask? Because they are then further divided int 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 1e, etc. It was insane. So my brain was pretty much fried by the time I finally went to bed.
   Today was a bit better just in general. Most of my classes are fairly easy, and with the exception of physics, they haven't really assigned much homework tonight.
   I went to the football game with the marching band tonight, and we did fairly well, it being our first public performance. Not great, mind you, but good enough. I think with a little work we could really polish this turd up and make 'er shine!
   And now it is the late so I am the sleep.

Tacos,
Gladdstone

Home Sweet Home

   Here we are, at long last the long awaited day is upon us-the very first day of band camp. The beginning of the end for me. For others, it's the beginning of a truly great journey, although they may not know it yet. I truly envy the rookies this year. They're starting off with a great group, and they'll go really far together.
   As for my own personal journey with the band, it is coming to a close, but not just yet. I still have one final season with the Tigers Pride Marching Band and I intend to make it count.

   Although I do talk about it being the end a lot, I'm trying not to focus on it. I really just want to enjoy this year and not worry about it being the end.
   So, with that in mind, I'm going to talk about the first day of band camp for the 2014-2015 season! It's a bit weird with all of the older students gone-we ARE the older students and that's a huge perspective change. Even after the first day, I can tell that it's going to be an excellent year. We really have a shot at the championships this year. Despite the fact that we lost plenty of really fabulous musicians last year, we got a lot of great rookies in return. Not to criticize last year's batch, but they still struggle a lot with the fundamentals. This year, the rookies are picking up everything very quickly and already showing signs of great potential. As long as we can keep up this level of focus, no one will be able to stand in our way!
   Today, being the first day was actually fairly uneventful. We introduced ourselves to the rookies and went over a lot of fundamentals. Our director Mr. Bill also handed out most of the music-a shock, I really didn't think that he would have it done in time. Hahaha.
   The show is going to be really great this year. It's also very well suited to my situation. Home Sweet Home. After all this fun going through Haunted Carnival, New York, For The Birds, and Tonight, it's nice to be reminded of what marching band is. Home. The marching band has been my home for a long time now, and that's what it will always be.
   To quote the Doctor-I have a new destination. My journey is the same as yours, the same as anyone's. It's taken me so many years, so many lifetimes, but at last I know where I'm going, where I've always been going. Home. The long way 'round.
   And that's exactly where my journey with the band has taken me-it's taken me home, and I couldn't be happier.

Pride.
Gladdstone


   

Much Music. Very Practice.

   Geez, these past couple of days have been killing me. BYSO concert/rehearsal fiasco over the weekend, then the orchestra concert Tuesday, marching band rehearsal tonight, which was then immediately followed by a two hour private violin lesson.
   On the bright side, however, I did finally pick a sonata to prepare for my college auditions. I'm going to be playing Beethoven's 5th Sonata (Spring). In a few weeks, I plan to pick out a piece from the collection of Bach Sonatas and Partitas. Then I just need some etudes and get my minor scales down, and I'll be all set!
   Marching band rehearsal tonight was really fun, it was great to see everyone again, and Mr. Bill showed us the footage for the spoiler of next year's show titled, Home Sweet Home.

   Something about that really got to me. Next year is going to be my senior year, and it seems that after all this crazy journey, starting with Haunted Carnival 4 years ago, to New York, For The Birds, and Tonight. And after all of this insanity, I'm back where I started. My home. The band is my home, it's where I belong. No matter what happens, I always feel good when I'm in the band room, or on the field. I know that I'm going to absolutely bawl the first day of band camp this year. After all I've done in this band, I just don't feel ready to leave. Even watching the video, all the old friends, all the memories, everything. I'll be honest, I teared up a little. I don't want this to end, I've never really felt at home anywhere in the way I do in the band. Even the people I don't like, I would still do anything for. I'm not sure what I'm going to do.
   Getting back to everything here, however, I've got some big, big things in the works. I've picked up the iPad again and started drawing, so hopefully I can get some nice stuff up here pretty soon. What I really would like to talk about, however, is the idea of a Nerds Under Fire podcast. Now the issue we've run into before, is scheduling. My initial thought is that I will host the show solo along with a different guest each week. At this point in time, my schedule never matches up with anyone's regular schedule, so what I intend to do is bring in a new guest each week. Our most common rotation will most likely include the regulars you hear about-Nik, Alex, Charlie, Nate-but I also have a few friends dotted around the country I've met in various fields of nerd-dom who I would love to have guest on this show if they're interested.
   This is all still in the preliminaries, of course, nothing is set in stone, but I've got plans and they will be coming together within the next couple of months.
   Stay tuned, and I'll see you all Friday.

Tacos,
Gladdstone