Got to perform and play at a 49's game yesterday!

To top off part of my vacation I also had to work, which required me to go and play at the NFL 49's game in which they played the jaguars. The Blue Devils have this branch of the organization called BDE which stands for Blue Devils Entertainment. BDE is actually the cause of many other NFL teams having drum lines. The 49's drum line is called Niner Noise and it's basically there to hype, entertain, and cheer on the crowd. It was a very interactive experience, and I had so much fun just playing. One of the coolest parts of the gig didn't even involve playing, once we had a break we would always go out to the parking lot where there was a bunch of tail gating, you would have thought it was a college football game. The people out there would just offer us so much food, and you already know I ate lots of it. I don't think there was anything I didn't like. Although I am definitely a Giants fan, I was completely from head to toe a San Francisco 49's fan yesterday.

The Greatest Vacation Blog Series Part 4

It was finally Saturday and the day of Banquet, I was so excited and ready to see all my friends again. Rudy had to go teach this indoor WGI drum line called the Freelancers first before we left, which was definitely cool for me because I love drumming and it was also a top group in the activity. Once we got there I was in automatic awe, because some of my friends that were in the drum line with me at Blue Devils this past summer were marching with Freelancers, and it was just a great preset to what was to come later that day. Once we left rehearsal we were on our way to banquet. When we finally got there although a bit late, but not by too much we were greeted with so many hugs, it felt so great to finally see everyone again, such an elite group of individuals. Banquet went on with many tears and laughs, and I actually received a couple of awards which included being inducted into the percussion hall of fame, a plaque for ageing out as a Blue Devil, and an Undefeated 2009 percussion champion plaque from one of our company sponsors the Zildjian cymbal company. But the greatest award came at the end of the Banquet when we received our 2009 Undefeated World Championship Rings! It's good to be a Blue Devil!

The Greatest Vacation Blog Series Part 3

Finally! Now that I got my bag I could go on with my week. It was a lot of fun staying with Rudy and his family. We would wake up every day and immediately start playing Halo on Xbox 360. His mom would cook some of the greatest food ever for breakfast, and then there were these cookies (heavenly ah…) that she made that I just could not stop eating. I soon learned that his mom and her boyfriend worked at Sacramento State University, and I immediately asked if they knew about my fraternity being at there school, and they suggested checking the school's website. It turns out that there is a chapter at Sac State, and so I was determined to get a number for at least one my frat brothers at that chapter. I called around and got one and then called them up letting them know that I was in town and that if they were free at any time it would be good to meet up. We made plans to chill together and meet on Friday which was cool because I definitely expected them to be with their families for thanksgiving. Although it was thanksgiving I was a little down to not be with my mom, but I was definitely comforted by Rudy's beautiful family. We all went to his grandmother's house to celebrate, and all I could talk about was the magnitude of the food, yum… The one thing that stuck out the most was this salsa that his grandmother made, I couldn’t stop eating that either. That night the turkey tucked me in bed itself. Friday came and Rudy and I did the usual when we woke up, but then I said lets go to the mall, because I wanted to pick up something for banquet and he wanted some new sneakers anyway. We went around browsing for a while, and then the thought of getting a haircut came to be a good idea, so I called one of my frat brothers and asked if they knew any good barbershops in the area. They told me one that was really close and one of the barber's there usually always cuts the chapter's hair. Once I got there this became incredibly interesting because as the barber whose name is JD was cutting my hair we were just talking and I had wound up telling him where I was from and why I was out there, and where I went to school and it actually turned out that he was a fellow Spartan, and even crazier after that spiel he was best friends with my chapter advisor while in school at NSU, talk about a small world. It's so funny how things work out at times. Later that night I got to finally meet some of my frat brothers and we all just chilled together and talked for a while.

The Greatest Vacation Blog Series Part 2

Well the good thing was that I had finally landed in San Francisco safely and even earlier then I had expected. The next step was to go and pick of my bag from baggage claim and be on my way. But that eerie feeling came back yet again and it turns out that I knew exactly what was going to happen. Unfortunately the airport had lost my luggage, and luckily for them I wasn't as angry as you would think, one because I already knew it was too good to be true, having to transfer to a another flight going in the complete opposite direction as my first connection, and second I have a lot of patience and understood that the people I was about to deal with get this all the time and have to deal with some of the rudest personalities. So basically I just kept it cool, calm, and collected, approached the woman behind the desk and told her what had happened and that my bag is now missing. She checked as much as she could, and saw on the computer that the last scan of my bag was still in Norfolk, basically saying that it didn't travel at all. Then she tried to assure me that she was positive it was going to arrive in San Francisco in the morning because she would send a message to Norfolk letting them know to put it on the next flight out. I then asked "well how am I suppose to get it because I'm staying all the way in Sacramento?" and she said that once it gets to San Francisco she'll add on another message saying to send it out to Sac and they will deliver it to where I was staying. I just said "Ok," and she gave me a number to call to check on my bag, and then I was on my way.

I met up with my tenor tech Rudy Garcia who is still fairly young and also marched in the Blue Devils not too long ago, he's like the greatest big brother I never had. I stayed in Sacramento with him and his family, and basically just kicked it for the week. I woke up the next day and waited until about after 11 o'clock to call and check up on my bag. When I called the man I was talking to on the phone he said that it was actually in San Francisco and that he would make sure it goes on the next flight out at 11:15 am, but I said to him "one problem, it 11:23," so then he said that there was a flight leaving at 1:10 pm and that he would send a message for it to be put on there and then it will be delivered to the house. About 3 hours go by and still no bag, I called again beginning to lose my patience a little, and the man said it was still in San Francisco, and that he'll send it out on the next flight getting there about 5pm, and for my inconvenience they offered me a $150 flight voucher. It was now 6 o'clock and still no bag! I was really getting angry, I call one last time and the man on the phone tells me it will go out on the next flight but I won't receive it until in between the times of 7:30pm and 11:30pm. I had no choice but to say ok. And so I waited and finally around 9 my bag comes!

The Greatest Vacation Blog Series Part 1

I must say for once that this vacation has finally been one of the most gratifying breaks in my life up to date. Although it started off extremely bumpy before I could even leave the state of Virginia, it was all worth it to have just been able to get all the way out here. My main reason for coming out to California for thanksgiving break was to attend The Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corp banquet to be recognized along with the rest of my fellow marching members as the Undefeated 2009 Drum Corps International Champions. Now any other year I may not have worked as hard to get out here and maybe not have minded even missing it so I could actually go home for once, but this year was very special to me because it was my age-out, which means that I am no longer eligible to march. This banquet was giving me the opportunity to see all my friends and instructors for the very last time.

Now to the adventure, as I stated earlier this trip started off with a bit of turbulence instead of a few bumps. I had finally arrived at the airport of course a bit early, checked in my bags and was ready to go. I walked to my gate and just sat down in relief that I was finally taking a break from school and from the state of Virginia. I pulled my iPod out for some music in order to allow some time to past. As my flight time grew closer and closer I could see many people begin to accumulate in the area. All of a sudden the flights attendants at the front desk announce that the plane has had a few maintenance issues and that they were getting someone to fix it and we should be loading shortly. I said to myself "Ok, we'll see how long this last," in a sarcastic manner. The flight was suppose to leave at 3:46pm it was now about 4:30. Finally another 20 minutes go by and they announce that this plane will not be leaving the airport, which of course pissed me off. So what they did to resolve the issue was reroute everyone on that plane, which I'm glad to say was better than hearing "sorry there are no more flights leaving at all." When I finally got to the desk they rerouted my connection to Washington, Dulles and from there I would be able to get to San Francisco. I was kind of at ease but definitely had an eerie feeling in the back of my mind.

My Line Brother's Wedding...

This past weekend on November 21^st, 2009 became the joining of two very special people. This wedding was very important to me personally because the groom just happen to be my line brother. The marriage of Ezekiel King III and Teneka Stephens was a beautiful success. I was deemed the pleasure of being one of the groom’s men along with several of my other line brothers and a few of my prophyte’s. Although I did not escort anyone down the aisle before I stood on the side of my line brother at the alter, they gave me the honor of playing an African tribal drum called the gymbe for the traditional jumping of the broom before they walked out as Mr. and Mrs. Ezekiel and Teneka King. After the wedding was over we stayed in the church for about another hour and a half taking pictures with all the groom’s men and Bride’s maids. 

My Schedule Today...

Since I woke up today, I made a schedule for myself to go by, hoping that I can accomplish most of these goals in order to feel relieved of work. As soon as I woke up I hopped rite on the computer and began to contribute my one-hundred words to wikipedia for an assignment that is due every two weeks in my media writing class. After I finished that assignment I began to do what I am doing now which is also apart of the same class and write my blog for the week. After I finish this blog I plan on getting cleaned up and walking over to the english department to get an override for one of the classes I need for next semester in order to graduate. Hopefully after that is in accordance with my schedule I will have to go to the financial aid building and hand that in so they can make it apart of my class schedule for next semester. When all of this is said and done my next stop will be the music building which is conveniently located right next to financial aid building, there I will go up to the studio in which I am the intern and finish a music project I began to work on yesterday of the rock genre.