Monday, we were to have learned the Fight Song, mainly for the purpose that we were going to play it Tuesday night! We were also given some other music with the likes of "The Final Countdown" and others to look over. We had our first Wind Ensemble rehearsal at 4:30, ended at 6, and we had to be back at the music building by 6:15. So after an hour and a half of playing, I got a fifteen minute break, then I needed to switch instruments and play for another hour maybe, then needed to play again at the Convocation. Needless to say, my lips were a little sore.
Well, once the practice was over, all of the band got their instruments, music, and stands and began the long hike over to the PE Center. When we arrived, we were greeted with the bleachers full of student-athletes, mostly with the same dull, I'm-breathing-is-that-not-enough-for-you look that I had seen in Bio. The sports director tried to rile the crowd up, but really to no avail. No one REALLY wanted to be there anyway. So, it fell on the band to resuscitate a dead horse.... We played the Fight Song and the other selections we had brought, the drum line went to task doing a really impressive job. Then came knockout.
The coordinators had the brilliant idea of having one athlete from all the girl's teams come play knockout. The game dragged, but once a winner was crowned, the next round came, the men's teams. Now, during all of the these games, the drumline played their stuff; again, and again, and again, and again. The men's knockout game last forever. I'm exaggerating, but I think that infinity was a little jealous. If that wasn't enough, they did a mixed knockout, made an even bigger line of competitors, and managed to raise boredom to a new level.
With the Convocation over, I realized that I had not had dinner, a fact that was completely unavoidable due to the several hours spent in the Music Building. In retrospect, I really didn't like the Convocation.
Wednesday brought another early morning, culminating in a discussion of stereotyping in English Comp. Wednesday also brought Small Groups.
I arrived at Small Groups exhausted, I hadn't been sleeping well. I regaled my brothers and sisters of my experiences so far that week, even talking about mass, an event that proved that I am a very unorthodox Catholic! We talked about priorities, mostly in reference to the Church. It was a challenge to me to keep the Church my priority during my tenure at college, an institution notorious for kids who leave the church behind for good. I came home very late.
Thursday brought my Bio Lab, a class I almost missed. I had made it a routine to eat with Amy and her roommate Jennifer before Bio, but I had assumed that the Bio Lab fell on the same time as my Chem Lab did, at 1:30. Arriving in the cafeteria, I texted Amy to ask if she was there yet, she said that she had already eaten. I got my food and began to walk to a seat at 12:20. On my way, I ran into Amy, who asked me what I was doing eating. I informed her that I had Bio at 1:30, so I had plenty of time. She informed me that I had Bio at 12:30, so I needed to book it to my room to get my books. That was cruddy. I ran up to my room, apple, banana, and ham 'n cheese in hand and mouth. I grabbed my books, knocked my apple on the floor, and flew down the stairs, Amy hot on my heels. I arrived at lab with food in hand, a big no no. I had five minutes, so I started stuffing my face, not a glorious sight. Amy doesn't eat very quickly at all, so she was amazed at my ability to consume all my food in that very short amount of time. We ended up taking a test to see where we stood in the Bio department in general. I took it as a challenge, Amy saying that if I tested out of the class, we wouldn't be friends any more.
Wind Ensemble brought about another round with Huapango, a Mexican dance piece that is really challenging and fast. I love it....
After Wind Ensemble, I ate dinner, and got ready to go to ApeX Ministries. ApeX Ministries consists of two guys who do juggling, whip-cracking, and straight-jacket-escaping. They also tried to bring some ministry into it, but, to my dismay, they are a Catholic Ministry team. That basically means no ministry involved, but a lot of juggling.
Friday brought about yet another early morning and more music in MB. After Eng Comp, I drove to Lebanon to meet my mom at the bank to apply for a debit card. It was too easy a process, I finished before my mom got there, so I decided to head to Arni's. Arni's was deserted at the time as it was 3:40, but I managed to catch up with Rodney my manager and get a breadstick fix. I drove back to the bank to meet my mom, and caught up with her. Once I was finished, I headed back to Marian, to do what I had been waiting for all week, laser tag.
Laser tag. I arrived back to find that just south of the fountain was a speedball field, awesome. I changed into some camo, not necessarily effective cover in the black and yellow inflatable cover, but it made me feel like a stud....
I arrived at a tent set up for signing in. I commenced with the signing and received a gun. Now these guns were former military issue and were $1,400 a pop, double awesome. They were basically a big brick of black painted metal. It had a pistol grip, a laser dot scope, and a Tapco adjustable stock. There was a wire running from the gun to a headband with sensors. These rifles when fired made a rifle firing noise as well as casings hitting the ground, triple awesome.
Well, we went out onto the field, alpha vs. bravo. We got beaten, but it was awesome. It felt like speedball without the pain. Well with the first game down, I needed a strategy. I ended getting back in line and got saddled with bravo team, a saddling that I would not regret.
With the six players on our team loaded into the game, I ran for the far northeast corner of the field, (The field was a square with large inflatables at all corners and smaller ones connecting the larger ones to each other. The field was probably 50x50 ft.) With my position, I was able to survey the opposition in its entirety, an advantage that would prove advantageous later on in the game. With the stock extended and in my shoulder and my eye focusing on the red dot, I waited for the megaphone squawk that was to be the starting bell. With these guns, five hits meant a "kill" followed by a ten second respawn time. One had three "kills" before he became "dead and buried". So the goal was to avoid getting hit in the head or gun, moving if you heard the sound of someone getting shot coming from your own gun. If you were unfortunate enough to get hit five times your gun would shout, "Ahhh! Get a medic!" Not a good sentence.
With these things in mind, I took it upon myself to be a pseudo-sniper, using the scope to pick off the alpha members foolish enough to stick there heads up. We ended up clearing all but one member with no casualties on our end throughout the game. The unfortunate alpha team member was pincered in between our fire. We won. Since we won, we had the privilege of staying on the field to challenge the next alpha squad.
We dominated. We had about eight straight victories, silencing critics, until the ref decided we were to good and made us give up our guns. We stayed together though, and once the red team won, we were there to claim the blue headbands of bravo team. We would win five or so in a row then give up the blue, only to get it again later. We were finally beaten after 18 or 19 in a row. It was sad. But every time after that, when we were together, we were unstoppable. I would get my corner bunker and pick off everyone in range. We sometimes switched sides, moving me to the southwest corner. When in the southwest corner, I was able to run through the crowd, flank the opposition, and get two to three kills before being killed. I used this tactic several times to success in all attempts. One time, I took out all of the other team, getting the third kill to bury the four I shot.
I played for four hours straight, getting very sweaty and tired. Once done, I ran back to take a shower and get ready to go to Steak 'n Shake with Amy, Jennifer, Toby, and Loralee. When we got there, we got orders and watched as Cardinal Ritter High School students fresh from a football game came in. We made fun of them, talking about the things that they thought important now that would not be important later.
We got back after midnight, but that happened to be one of the best ways to end one of the craziest weeks I've ever had. Talking with people about the week revealed what I felt, that the week seemed a month.
