Man, what a weekend. I, like many of the others in our circle, spent all day Saturdya listening to all-state auditions. I listened to roughly 120 kids. Of those, I felt like maybe 12 were all-state level players. The other 8 they took- good luck with those. I am amazied every year at some of the shit that makes it into the 2nd round. If your tuba sounds like my ass, you don't need to pass the 11-12 1st round. In MS, OK, bad tone we can work on. But seniors? Too late guys.

Here's the real gem of it all. About 2:30 on audition day I developed a stomach virus that would see me through Sunday evening. It's bad enough listening to a kid score a 28, but do that when you feel like you could yuke at any second... pure eden.

So after the auditions I got to come to school to help finish painting our guard and drum floors. This is something that I really enjoy. Painting was a rite of passage in my childhood. Again fun, but not when your ass explodes every 45 minutes or so.

We did the drum side on Sunday. It looks like this, except without the word SAMPLE all over it. Looks cool, huh? Yeah, so those ovals... we hired a mural artist to come in a sketch them out for us. It took her 4 hours and then we painted for about 3 more. The good news- it looks killer. The bad news- we've got to put another coat on. Balls.

School and home are both great. I truly am happier than I've ever been. Hope to see everyone soon.

E

P.S. Hooters was great, but we seemed to be 1 or 2 short...