A/N: I know, I know, I'm out of bloody order, but if I don't do NSBA (State) NOW, I'll forget it! (…Shut up, Bouma.) Anyways, I think has a way to let you switch chappies around…I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. A…nyways…wow, I love Green Day! LOL! But that's not the point. On with the chappie!

October 23, 2004-NSBA State Marching Contest

(Seems kinda redundant, since NSBA stands for Nebraska State Bandmasters Association, but…what do I know? LOL)

Is it just me, or are the times we have to be at school getting later and later?

Nah, it's not just me.

Columbus was 6:30, Lincoln High was 12:45, NSBA is…1:30 p.m.! (Eh, it's only 45 minutes, but still)

When I pulled up in front of the school, I was like, 'OK, this is it. This is STATE! You canNOT blow it, do NOT fluff your movements, and do NOT watch Jessa for your drill spots. Otherwise, no pressure.'

Not a good day inside my head.

So anyways, at 1:00 p.m., I was flying around my room, trying to locate my other guard shoe, having forgotten to pack the night before. My mom asked me if I had, and I told her yes…I fudged a little bit.

But that's not important right now. The point is, I found all the pieces to my uniform, packed them in my bag, and took off for East.

When I got there, Elkhorn was on our practice field, so I stood and watched their show for a little bit, they weren't bad. But I realized I had to go inside eventually, so I picked up my bag, and pulled open the band room door.

And almost got knocked backwards from the 311 blasting on the stereo.

Stupid drumline people and their stupid loud music.

After making sure I could still hear, and I wouldn't trip over somebody 'cause the lights were so damn dim, I went on a manhunt.

Actually, it was more like a friend-hunt, but I've always wanted to say that.

Anyways, the whole place was a big mess of people because they were getting everybody's luggage for the Florida trip, checking it in, labeling it, etc, etc. I wasn't going (can you say 'cheap dad'?), so I said hello, we talked for awhile, and then I headed to the dressing room to get ready. It didn't take that long, but what always holds me up is my hair. It used to be a lot longer, and it took a HELL of a lot of gel, at least 10 or 15 bobby pins, and a hairnet to get it to stay in place. Then I have to do my makeup (someone else does my eyeliner for me-every time I try, I end up poking myself), and get changed.

But not necessarily in that order. LOL!

Anyways, I got changed, and we headed down to the gym to practice, then we had pizza around two o' clock, and watched a tape of the graduating senior's freshman show. I wasn't following it too well, I was chatting a lot with the people around me.

Which included Dane Whittier, and he ALWAYS bloody manages to somehow bring the conversation back around to himself somehow.

But this was what I heard: "Waa waa waa waa me me me waa waa waa me me me."

Yeah…not so much.

So we talked for awhile, about everything, including (like you couldn't guess) politics. Dane and I are staunchly Democratic; it's one of the only things we agree on.

And, might I add, close to being the ONLY thing we agree on.

So, anyways…once that was done, we trooped off to get changed, and I headed back to the men's dressing room (I never quite figured out why they stuck us in there…Mystery of life, I guess), re-did my make-up, fixed my hair, and finagled myself into my stupid little outfit. Then we all trooped out to our practice field, which had, until recently, been occupied by one out-of-town band after another, so it was finally our turn.

I'll skip the details…suffice it to say that our warm up could've been better, but I've seen us look worse.

And, lucky us, we were one of the last performances of the day, since all the Class-AA bands go last.

Summing it up:

We have done better.

We have also done MUCH worse (like NSBA this year…but that's for a later chapter). The swing flags actually worked out rather well, I was pretty impressed with us, and how we managed to spin them in October. In Nebraska. In the freaking WIND.

After our performance, we were able to come back and watch the rest of the bands, and then the UNL band performs, then the awards are handed out.

I'll spare you the details (mostly 'cuz I don't remember a lot of them myself) and tell you that we got a Division One-Superior rating.

As we have every year, thank you!

And since NSBA ends guard for the season (except Star City Parade), such is the conclusion of the 2004 season tale.

Keep a lookout for the 2005 season series! Toodles!