6/18/09 -- Reminisce.

So today was the last day of freshmen band camp. It was horribly tedious at times, like standing still for the entire day. And I had to run cause I just HAD to be a dumbass and forget the hat inside my bag. What the heck. Anyways, music block was kinda fun. I still suck at being center. XD I gotta get back into the gaaaameee.

Anyway.. today makes me think of the first time I ever came to band. And I think.. "Wow, the freshmen are so lucky. No one's staring them down like a freak. And they're all in this program together."
It's flashback time.

So the first day I went to band camp was the second day of August band camp. Cause I auditioned late because I had NO WAY of knowing about the program because of my.. old schools. Private schools have no idea of the extracurricular programs of public schools. Bleh.
So before I even ride into the parking lot of the school, I'm pretty much having an ANXIETY ATTACK. Now, I've only experienced this feeling when a) I was infatuated with someone and could not stop thinking about it, or b) I was going to take the Troy entrance exam, which, by the way, I most likely epically failed. So this feeling pretty much bothers me and I really can't function because the middle of my hand starts to hurt and I'm like trying to stab it with something.
And Sandra remembers how I first came in..
It felt about 100 degrees. I was wearing a BLACK shirt, DENIM capris, oversized Vans shoes, and I only brought ONE water bottle, with only about 3/4 of the water left because I was so nervous, I drank some of it. -_- No sunscreen whatsoever. So I show up right? And Mr. Stone kinda just.. scares me with all of his fast talking. And then he tells me to follow him.. and I see all these strange kids with instruments just heading out to the backfield. I was a very, very shy person and I knew NO ONE.
So Mr. Stone leads me to these girls who seem very, very outgoing and intimidating to me. Jazlyn Valencia and Jennifer Williams. They kinda just drag my scared shitless self to the field and tell me to get out my flute. EVERYONE is staring at me all weird like "WTF ARE YOU." so then I meet Gloria Kim and Maggie Li, the section leaders. I had no idea what a section leader was or why I was even there to begin with. All I knew was that my dad woke me up at 12:00 noon and said, "Hey, I called Mr. Stone and he said you can go to band camp. It starts in 30 minutes. Get ready." -___-
Okay, just so everyone knows.. before I even stepped foot on Ayala's campus, I had NEVER seen a fieldshow, I had never watched a parade long enough to watch a band march, and I had NO idea what a marching band was supposed to do. I had no idea that Ayala band was freaking BAD-ASS. No one told me what to expect, and everyone that knew didn't expect me to stay. Can you say "n00b"? I think so.
So Gloria teaches me the basics while everyone else is running greens and doing warm-ups. Dress, center, dress; band horns up; attention; all that jazz.
WIMPY WIMPY WIMPY. She stared at me like I was freaking retarded with a "WHY ARE YOU HERE?" expression. And then she tries to teach me marching. "It's like rolling your feet..." I fail. I pretty much walked. D:
So then she asks me if I want to join the ensemble yet. I'm like "Ohh.. no... it's okay..." And she stays, like a Good Samaritan, and pretty much does the warm-up exercises with me. I was REALLY out of shape at the time, so I'm pretty much dying by now, by humiliation and exhaustion.
The people come back for a water break. And they stare as me as they walk by. Like I'm some sort of alien. It was a horrible feeling. So they all leave me, and Gloria lets me stay behind. So, I'm pretty much watching them do touch-and-go's back and forth and all that stuff for like.. 4 hours while sitting and trying to hide under the shade of a goal post. FAIL.
They come back because it's time to go to dinner.
Jennifer and Jazlyn really looked out for me. So they also tried to teach me how to march and do backwards. "It's like the moonwalk," Jennifer says.
Dinner time. At that point, I'm still scared shitless.
Ehh, the details of what happened throughout the rest of the day are fuzzy. Cause I really wanted to cry and go home. Music block. Maggie pulls me aside because everyone already knows how to do the 5 minute warm-up. I'm already fatigued. I absolutely failed. And my flute angle was the most obvious fail of all.
I remember a few months ago, when band season ended, Jonathan Ng told me that he REMEMBERED how HORRIBLE my flute angle was. D: And he's like.. on the other side of the arc. LOL WTH.
Anyway, back to the first day. Gloria writes down warm-up. I'm pretty much like.. struggling with "marking time", which I had no idea how or what it was until like.. day 4...
Then they like, throw the music in my face. Okay, my concert band music in Ontario Christian looked like child's play compared to even the first page of Turbine. I'm like.. spending all my freetime and RELEARNING how to play the flute. It was horrible and terrifying and I didn't play any notes until the 2nd week because I was trying to intake all the information within a day.
Kay, so I manage to survive the day without crying..
Night arc. It was alright. Except for the fact that I had no idea what pit was and their sound just surprises me. And the metronome. Yeah, believe or not, I had never practiced SUCCESSFULLY with a metronome before band camp. So all these new sights and sounds are pretty much a sensory overload. I just focused on keeping my flute up, which, by the way, kept falling. My back is pretty much aching because I had never stood up so straight for such a long period of time in my entire life.
So, night arc is over. My back hurts like crazy, I just want to go home, I'm dressed inappropriately for the weather, I have a bad sunburn, I only know a handful of people, the freshmen are more experienced than I am, and everyone thinks I'm a freak. What a great way to start, eh? So Gloria calls a short meeting. Like, pep talk and stuff. I don't really remember because I was already close to tears. Anyway, at the end, she dismisses everyone and gives me the warm-up paper and all the other stuff. I go home.. really disappointed in myself. What am I doing here? is what I remember asking myself repeatedly.
Then I go to Walmart. Which reminds me.

I WENT TO WALMART EVERY NIGHT, AFTER PRACTICE, FOR THE FIRST WEEK OF AUGUST BAND CAMP.
Let's see.. first day I came: August 12, 2008 a Tuesday.
What did I buy? XD
8/12/08 - gym shorts
8/13/08 - sun visor
8/14/08 - another gym short
8/15/08 - GIANT water jug

Oh my goodness. What a nightmare. And to think, it would start all over again the next day. I had hot-and-cold heating pad sticker things on my lower back, thighs, calves, shoulders, and triceps.

And I went to sleep, anticipating a repeat of the same nightmare the next day.

That's all I remember for the first day.
Oh, and Andy Tran (next-door neighbor + flute section) dropped by with a printout of what Gloria had for the flute section, like rules of conduct and stuff, and everyone's names and phone numbers.

Yepp. So that's my nightmare for you.

I should sleep now. Hahahaha.
Maybe I'll describe the rest of my horrific journey of growth and development later.

It's 2 in the morning and I STILL remember this. XD

revamped. for now.

whitewashedfilipino.blogspot.com

because for some reason, facebook keeps swallowing up my blogs. wth.

Need to change the pace.
Changed the blogspot look.
Theme: SHINee
Korean boy band.
I'm like.. inspired by their choreography.
Taemin is so cute.

Hope you like the background music.
"Romeo + Juliette" -- SHINee

They made a comeback.
Thanks to Tracy for updating me.

Heheh.. <3

Kay, I'm off to band camp.