Yesterday was a fun and eventful day. :) I volunteered to go to the away game at Maryland because I had nothing better to do, and I was pleasantly surprised.

I met with Other Emily (or E-dawg, as I like to refer to her), and we trudged through the workings of the desolate stadium to find the parking garage in which the band was meeting. We get there, find the other horns going, and isolate our selves from the rest of the band, like we always do. The horns for that day were Christine (who doesn’t really talk to us, so she doesn’t count), me, E-dawg, Katilyn, and Ben (otherwise known as nice 3^rd horn). We eventually loaded the buses, and I got positioned in a window seat next to Ben, which I am certainly not complaining about, since he is a very good conversationalist. For the first hour or so we talked about random things surrounding us (like one company entitled “SiloSmashers”. There are jobs for that?!?). Then we reverted to our antisocial tendencies and listened to our iPods for 2 hours, only resurfacing afterwards to complain about our lack of stopping for lunch. Though I do admire him, because he was on his laptop working on an Organic Chemistry lab report for a good portion of the ride. Crazy chemistry majors (I think).

Around 1 we did pull into a McDonalds parking lot, and it was easily one of the most exciting moments of my life, since I skipped breakfast. And since they gave us $30 dollars for food, I splurged. Mmm. Big Macs. So bad for you, but so good. Katilyn got a happy meal, and it came with this little red dragon toy, so we spent an hour of lunch trying to discover exactly what it did, which was basically nothing. We found it could hold a piece of cardboard if you shoved it in hard enough. Then we presented it to one of the band director/assistant people, who proceeded as if it were the coolest thing ever. Mission accomplished.

Then we drove through sketchy Maryland (sketchier than Georgetown South!) and ended up at College Park, which was still kind of sketchy and I can proudly say Charlottesville is so much classier. We got dressed on the bus, layering as much as possible, dawned the hugest rain coats in existence, and set out for Byrd Stadium.

After about 10 minutes we were completely miserable. We were losing. The rain was progressively getting harder. It was progressively getting colder. And our gloves had been completely saturated with water, so our hands were steadily growing numb. Eventually we realized that it was warmer without the gloves. No hot sacs in site. AND they kept making us play. How cruel. The woodwinds weren’t even allowed to bring their instruments out due to the rain (except for the clarinets ,who were able to play UNDER the giant raincoats).

Half time was a lift me up, because I gave in and bought 4 dollar hot chocolate. Best decision of my life. As soon as I held the cup, I felt feeling return to my fingers in the form of that annoying tingling. The people around me took turns just holding it. Optimism had returned. And then, of course, we started winning. It was pretty amazing. By the end, we had no feeling in our limbs, but enough energy to break into our TAG dance multiple times. The rain stopped after the game ended and we dragged our sopping selves back to the bus, revealing in the invention of heat and forgetting our previous miseries. Oh, and watching Georgia Tech beat Virginia Tech, making UVA #1 in the coastal division and undefeated in the ACC. This will only last a week, as next week we play Georgia Tech and will certainly be demolished. But, it’s exciting while it lasts.

We drove for an hour or so and finally stopped in some shopping center at 9 for dinner. Everything was closed except a place similar to Chipotle, so we ate greasy quesadillas and had silly conversation (“HEY GUYS, THERE’S A COLDSTONE HERE. WHO WANT’S ICECREAM?”, to which Ben thought I was serious and got excited. Silly boy). In the final 2 hours people mostly fell asleep. I tried, but gave up after a half hour and texted Christian, like I normally do.

We pulled back into the creepy parking garage at midnight, and E-dawg and I trudged back to our dorms, where I proceeded to collapse into bed. Good day.

LOOK I’M DANCING ON ESPN

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=292900120

Watch the video. The last 20 or so seconds showcases TAG, which is by far the best part of the Cavalier Marching Band.