Ballhair!

I woke up at 6 AM this morning.

I was on the bus by 6:45 AM this morning.

We didn't leave the parking lot until 7:45 AM.

Such was the fairly shitty start to what turned out to be a fairly awesome day. The bus ride there was fairly uneventful, as most of us slept for a good portion of it. Movies: Blazing Saddles and Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (that explains the title).

Arrived to the College of William & Mary quite a bit later than was scheduled, so we ate a quick (gross) lunch and played a short set (read: fight song & Proud Mary) for the JMU Alumni there. After that it was an insanely long walk to the stadium for the game. OK, maybe it wasn't really all that insanely long, but for a guy with an ingrown toenail, it was long.

The first half of the football game was great, as it's the first game in months that we haven't fallen out of in the first minutes. We actually trailed only 7-3 at the half, so there was still quite a bit of hope for us.

Halftime show was really good. Odd to march on the natural surface, and difficult on the toe, but overall a good show.

The Dukes came out hot at the start of the second half and scored a quick touchdown to make it 10-7, but blew it in the final minutes of the game to wind up losing 17-10. Postgame was fun, though.

Before we left the campus, someone brought over a box of leftover hamburgers from the snack bar at the game; I'm not sure what came over me, but I ate one. That kept me going the rest of the night, and allowed me to spend my per diem on other pursuits.

Movies for the ride home: Billy Madison and American Pie.

Hourlong stopover at Regency Square in Richmond, long enough for dinner and a few trombone players to get 'faced. That added greatly to the entertainment value of American Pie.

The night really didn't begin, however, until the lights went out when American Pie finished. Typical marching band fare for about 20 minutes until we got home. Loud, crazy, and wild.

How do I wish I could go to sleep right now? Let me count the ways.

...

Lots.

Various countdowns:
10 days until Thanksgiving break
35 days until Christmas break
40 days until Fellowship of the Ring
48 days until PMB New Year's run begins

Dukes.