Anyway; regardless of that, I am going to talk to you about all the fun and hard work I've been having at BYU. I would have updated this last week, but my internet was down to a filter system and essentially I had no internet access for 36 hours.
Lets start off from the beginning: BAND CAMP! (buh-buh-buh-bummmmmmmm)
College marching band is almost the exact opposite of everything high school marching band is. To start, everyone there cares about the program, so you don't have people slacking off or pulling bs at you or the director. Next, almost everyone there is good (I mean almost because apparently on average, only 300 people try out each year, so there's a possibility to have people there who are mediocre. And I mean that in the kindest of ways!) so there's not much power struggle. Everyone accepts their own spot and does the best they can with it. Third, people are married here, so you see out of section and out of band relationships. Fourth, the sections that are usually the best at High school (Trombones, Tubas, woodwinds) tend to be the worst in college. Our band director Bro. McInnis (we call him Mac for short) has only told the trumpets to tongue shorter, so I say it's pretty good here!
The other difference is that my section doesn't believe in Section bonding. For those who understand "band types", the Trumpets think they are God-sent and we are the best thing around since Sliced Bread and iPods. Well, it's true. We are. What, do you ever see the angel Moroni playing a Sax? Or Guitar? How about a Tuba? Think not. It's a trumpet! (Technically, it's a valveless trumpet used in antiquity, but it still counts!) However, because of that, the upper-classmen in out section do not care much for underclassmen. They don't verbally abuse us, but they just don't really care. They still talk and joke with us but freshmen are left to cut and dry by ourselves. This is why the first 3 days of band camp stunk, since we freshmen were to scared to talk amongst ourselves.
Our Band directors are Bro. Mac and Bro. Fuller. Bro. Mac has a nice southern accent, and he looks and sounds more like a high school football coach (Remember the Titans anyone? Sounds like the white coach). But he is so spiritual in the gospel and he knows what needs to be done for the band and how to do it. He gives us spiritual references at every rehearsal. One of the ones I remember was when we weren't moving as quickly as we could, he told us the story of how President Kimball would run to every appointment and when asked why he ran despite his health, he replied "If you knew the lord's timetable, you would run too.". Then Bro. Mac said, "I don't know much about the lord's timetable, but I know ours. And if you knew as much as I did, you would run too." That's the inspiration I get to work with every day. He also says stuff like "two squirrels fighting in a laundry basket".
Anyway, Band Camp was long. It went from 0800-2200 everyday. We marched and played the entire time. The sun was beating down on us all day without cloud cover, and even though there's not humidity up here (so it's not as hot), the less atmosphere-so the sun rays burns through your skin. You can literally feel your skin roast on your arms and legs because of the sun. And no matter what SPF sunscreen you have on, you're going to get burned. I had 30 and 50 on and I still got burned on my right arm, my nose, and my mouthpiece got so hot I think I burnt my lips for about a week after camp was over. (There were lots of us who had sunburned lips. The worst part was that one day we all woke up with our bottom lip super purple and puffy. So puffy in fact that we couldn't even drink water because the water would run out the lip. Thankfully it went away like around noon, so we could still play!). The cool thing about being in college marching band is that we set up the entire pre-game performance on the second day of Band Camp-which was our first day marching- our entire first show by the 4th day of band camp- and had about 30 min of show music memorized by the end of the week. After that 3rd day you start talking to more people and you have more fun because you have friends to hang out with and talk. I have some really good friends in the band now-Spencer, Brandon, Matt, Wayde, and Steven.
All in all, Band Camp was hard, but it payed off in the long run. I'm glad that I did it!
Alright, lets see... I covered Band Camp, now what... Oh School!
Ah yes, that wonderful institution payed through the military in return for my soul and unquestioning obedience and mindless service. *sigh* Democracy. Anyway- my classes are going ok. I really have pretty easy classes. I don't have much reading or homework (most of my homework is due once a week on Friday between 1700-2300) so I've been spending a lot of my free time hanging out with friends or watching Phineas and Ferb on Youtube. Best. Show. Ever.
Anyway, the hardest class I have is my ROTC classes because I get up at 0600 and I do the hardest workouts I ever done and the leaders are really strict. Which is to be expected, but I wasn't prepared for the real paradigm shift. Oh, and now I have to fill out a 40 page contract to get my scholarship, so I have till Wednesday to get it done. So tomorrow (Labor Day) I'm going to work on it because I don't have school on holidays and on Tuesdays I only have 0600 PT and Marching Band at 1600. So I have about 10 hours of free-time to do homework and laundry.
My roommate is really nice. His name is Ben and he is from Oregon. He's very outdoorsy and loves China. He speaks the language almost fluently and he loves the people and the heritage. He hangs out late, but he's a nice guy. He's trying to become an architect and live in China. He's a really nice roommate.
As for my dorm, it's the best dorm I could ask for. I have the newest building on Campus and everything actually works and doesn't look and feel like 3 decade old buildings. The way my dorm is set up is awesome! Mom and dad did a really good job organizing, so I haven't done much in terms of rearranging. Hope you guys can come and see this, it's really neat!
I have so many cool experiences to talk about I don't know where to start. Good thing I'm keeping an audio journal for prosperity!
I love you all and miss you so much! Call me and keep in touch!
-Steven
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