So we just had our first 3 block day of the tour so far, it wasn't even that bad. Well except that the field we were marching on was a swamp...it was awful it was up to my knees, well maybe I'm exagerating a bit but it was pretty deep. We still had a few phrases in the show that needed work so scott filled them in today. We also changed the end of the show a bit to make our transition to our 7 footers a bit better. We are on our way to ohio right now and watching a pretty srupid movie on the bus, I can't wait to get to PA because I'm going to get to see my best friend and a few other friends also. So far the summer has been an interesting one, I think that it is going to be a great season with every corps and it makes me even more excited to do TOC. But I'll stay concentrated on national's week which is coming up in like 2 weeks! Oh how tour fly's by when your having fun!!

Hey all, so I'm now sat on the bus on my way to the spirit alabama show...the weather has been good for us today. The field had a lot of water on the surface which was nice to march on, oh wait......no it wasn't hehe. We had a 3 hour block and covered the show, we didn't clean much but it was a good block. The run wasn't great, but i had a good one. the showers at the school are nasty, I fixed one that wasn't working and I ended up with the best shower....I guess plumbing is useful now and again.

Our orlando show was amazing it was so good to step back onto that turf after last years championship. It made me go all tingly inside and everyone was hyping and ready to throw down, the energy we had was off the hook. The staff were all very happy and so was I, it wasd a good day to be a blue devil.

So yesterday we had a free day/laundry......first we got our laundry done, I was able to get some bits and bobs from walmart which was handy.

After laundry we had a few hours in downtown disney where we chilled and got some food....there's not a lot there realy for our age limit but it was relaxing. We then headed to the orlando show to see the cavies and cadets. I enjoyed both of their shows. This was my first dci show as a spectator it was cool to see some of my other english friends performing with different corps. Well I'm gunna get going as I need to get ready for the show. Oh I appologise for my bad spelling and grammer mr nasitka haha dans a good friend of mine and said u commented as you were a english teacher hehe.

Can someone from england send me some mail, a letter or something.....just let me know if my country still exists hehe. I will speak to you all soon hopefuly......this thing is getting hard for me to get my hands on.

Cherio

Well it has been a while since I have written because it is hard to get this thing to write a diary with all the people who need it. Let's see I now have to go back and remember everything that has happenend.....well the last place we were at that I can remember pretty well was alabama and oh gees was that place hottttt!!!! I love the east coast and the humidity ( and I can say that with sarcasm because I'm from the east coast). Oh and I can't remember where we were but scott left us for about a week and I wanted to throw a party when he got back, I missed him...oh I do remember where we were it was kalamazoo, michigan! We did a DCI clinic there which was fun, the colorguard did a meet and greet with the kids and I was in a group withh all drummer's and the majority of them were quad players so I had tim jackson ( the I & E winner from last year ) come and play in front of them, I think it made them happy so that was exciting. The show that night was so much fun too, it was a regional and a saturday night show so the crowd was great. Since our show is based on a train we get excited whenever we hear one, well for warm up for that show we actually walked across a railroad track, it was pretty exciting. Oh how the little things get you excited when you are on tour. Ok now after that we went to alabama.....(I think I'm back on track now) and let me tell you it was hott there. And those fire ants are crazy, I'm sure angela said something about it already but her feet were eaten up ( poor girl). The second day in alabama we were in Troy and we stayed in dorms....that was fun, we got to sleep in beds and everything...my friend erin and I slept in bunk beds. It was great, the only down fall was that the food truck was like 10 minutes away from were we stayed. So that kinda sucked. After that night we headed down to good old orlando, florida. I swear it rains everyday in this state but the weather wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be. I did get to see my mom who I haven't seen since march, that was bitter sweet!!! The show friday night was amazing, just being in that stadium again to perform kinda felt like deja vu. We warmed up in practice clothes which totally reminded me of last year and we finally smelled good as a guard!! Our uniforms weren't washed for a while so they smelled HORRIBLE, and I'm not even kidding. We saw SCV that for the first in a while which was cool. I'm starting to get a little impatient though, I really wanted to see cadets and cavies. Since saturday we didn't have a show we had a free day!!!! Gotta love those....we did some luandry then hung out at down town disney for a while then watched some of the show. It was cool I ate a nice big burger from the house of blues ( sorry scott hehe). Then just chilled and walked around. We did get a hand out about our show today and it was amazing to read it and think about how each part in our show was put together, I really think the staff is incredible!! Well now we are on the bus going back to alabama so I'm pretty much all caught up, we are heading up to the north east which I'm very excited about because I'm gonna get to see some friends!!!! Till next time......

Well I have not had the chance to update my diary in quite some time because I have been busy trying to do the day to day craziness of drum corps. So now that I have the chance to update my journal, I will do take it back to last week.

It seems like it has been forever since last week because in drum corps we do so many shows, wake up in so many different places every week that it definately takes a toll on you. This year really seems to be full of traveling a lot and then waking up, practicing, then having a show that same day. So last week Scott Chandler left for home to take care of other business he ahs to do. Naturallly, this is something the colorguard does not like so much because he is our leader, our motivator. He is the papa bear if you want to think about it like that. So last week was definately hard for the guard without him. But the rest of the staff always pulls through by cleaning and teching all of the phrases in the show so we start to feel a sense of clarity in our shows. Everything is always so rushed when we first start the season that cleaning time doesn't start until July. So pretty much the early part of last week was just practice and shows.

Friday, however, we had a free day. Don't let the name of that fool you, it really turned out to be a free night. Let me tell you why. See our "free day" was in Chicago but our housing site was about an hour and a half away. But in addition to the Chicago trip, we also had a laundry day. Whenever we have laundry days it always takes the majority of the corps like 5 hours to this. It is pretty rediculous. So the case is that we leave when the corps is ready to leave and we set our own destiny. Well, I believe our destiny is meant to leave really late. But in addition to us leaving really late because of laundry, it was raining and a Friday which meant there would be traffic. So to make a long story short, it took 4 hours to get into Chciago and we got off the bus at 7:30pm. So that is why we had a free night.

The night was incredible fun though. I had never been to Chicago and I have always wanted to see the city. I didn't get to see a whole lot but it is still something I can say was an experience. A large group of us went to the closest place we could find to eat because none of us had eaten since breakfast. We found propably the most commen restraunt in the US which was TGI Friday's. We still made a fun time out of it. Then in the latter part of the night we went down to the end of pier where this cover band was playing some hip hop song and songs from the 60's and just a bunch of random songs. It was a good time.

So I believe we had three shows leading up to the regional in Kalamazoo Saturday night. I really hype up on regionals because there are so many people that show up to watch. I'm not trying to say that the smaller shows don't get me hyped because there are shows like Woodburn, Oregon that only have a few hundred people come and they are great, but there is just a natural hype that people get when there are thousands of people screaming for your corps in support. So the day of the regional was busy once again. We slept at our housing site and then went to practice at the show site. It was a great stadium to perform to. I always love to perform at the big shows. So enough about last week.

This week with Scott back, everything seemed to be where it should be. For me, Scott is the reason I am here. I have been privelaged to be taught by him since my freshman year in high school. It really does seem weird when he is not around.

So this week we were in Alabama to start and I just have to say that Alabama is a hard place to be for drum corps. I don't think I have ever sweat so much just walking from one place to another more in my life. I really think I must have lost 10 pounds there. Hahaha. So we did the usual practicing thing there but with a twist. The rain that occurs in the mid afternoon is a lot of fun. But see, it doesn't just rain, it sprinkles for about a minute then starts to pour! There is definately no warning time. So that made it very interesting.

Well now I am sitting on the bus from the citrus bowl. It is friday night and we just finished our show and we got a cool score of 89.90. That was pretty fun to hear. For those who don't know what the citrus bowl is, it is in Orlando, Florida and where we had championships last year. It was a great feling to come back to this site. I have many great memories from here dating back to 2001. Tonight I had a really fun run and put out another good performance on that field for the last time.

I don't like to think of this being my last year to march but it pops up in my head ever now and then. So I think I need to just have fun and for anyone that is thinking of doing drum corps, it is defiantely an experience unlike any other. Like all things there are ups and downs during the season but in the end there is nothing like it amd worth evey second. The people you meet and the performances alone make it worth it. So that is my little piece for drum corps. I hope I get to you all before another week and a half go by. Take care.

Hey all!! Here we are in florida, enjoying a little cooler weather than alabama had offered. Its still humid and of course always rains but its typical southern weather. I am glad to be out of alabama though--not cuz the people wernt extremely nice but I got eaten alive by fire ants and the south has some scary bugs I have never seen before!! I got bit all over my feet after the show and on my hand and arm during warmup--it was not fun!

So we are in florida for the next couple of days with a laundry and free day on saturday! Laundry days are always excititing! (Its amazing how the little things get us through) For instance, last night at the show in alabama, they were giving away free soda and that being something we don't ever get, made the night that much more exciting! (Even though that's when I got bit from those darn ants)

So yah, laundry should be fun, then I'm not quite sure what we are doing the rest of the day. There are a couple options open..so we'll see, but its a free day so I'm not complaining!

Well I'm going to get going, I have a half an hour left of dinner so I'm going to relax, plus about 4 people asked who had this after me. And then me and clint kinda got into it right now about this thing---so I'm over it! ((Drama!!))

Hope you are all doing well and hope to keep hearing from you. BYE :)

The crazy thig about being in the south is the way you can literaly feel the thickness of the air. The heat and humidity have been absoulty misarable since we hit the Rockford show last week. The shows for the past few nights have been a bit of a chalenge in that respect, it's hard the keep a grip on equipment, and I don't think our costumes have been dry all week. If there was an award for high stink, the Blue Devil's colorguard would win this week. I can't wait to get to Orlando where we can have time over night to wash them.

This week was interesting. Last Friday we had a free day/laundry day. While doing laundry in Beloit, Kassidy, Sonja and I went into a little cafe. The second we walked in, the whole room turned to talk to us as we sat down. Every one was really interested what we were in twon for. When you met people in the real world and try to explain to them what you do, you always end up sounding a little odd. We were most definatly the main event in the cafe that morning. It was a fun morning. After that we headed to Alabama. Yesterday and the day before we were staying at Spain Park HS. I can't get over just how amazing that HS is. The morning we arived the colorguard got to shoot a bit for Good Morning Alabama. They had asked me to introduce the colorguard on film, and that we were at Spain Park High for Sparks in the Park. That sounds easy enough, but I think I had to do about eight takes. That afternoon we got to do a little hands on clinic with area high school students. It made me miss the kids I teach at home.

Last night we got into Troy around 3 am, where they put us in dorms. It was a fun change of pace, but the campus is so spread out we ended up walking all day from the dorms to the trucks. My body is starting to feel the strain of touring, especialy after all the driving we've been doing.

We are now on our way to Orlando.

Well I finally managed to get the sidekick to write some more about life on the road. There's so many people it seems that are writing these I almost wish we had another gizmo to pass around. I guess I'll just have to beat up Steve Blakely for hogging it (just kidding buddy ; P ).

Well lets get caught up here. Since leaving Witchita we went out for Phantom Regiments home show. We had an awesome show that night except for a little bobble in the very begining count off (you guys can all bug John Holmes about what happened).

After Rockford it was off to Chicago for some laundry and supposed time off. Unfortunately we got snagged up in traffic and our free day turned into a free couple hours. But I made the best of it with a buddy of mine. We hit up this little jazz club called Andy's which had some great food and it was just nice to sit and hear some good live music.

We have definitely hit the south, or the Swamp Tour and I like to call it. This is usually just the very hot and humid part of tour and this year has proved to be no different. I think I probably have lost about 15 gallons of sweat over the past couple days. We stayed at Spain Park high in Hoover, AL a couple days ago for the Sparks in the park. This school was amazing. It has anything and everything you could ever want and luckily had a couple gymnasiums which was great since rehearsal the other night was a washout and we had to have horn sectionals and ensemble rehearsal there. Also I realized just how much of a blessing air conditioning is! That night was the sweatiest show I think I have ever done. I literally wrung out my uniform pants for 10 minutes after the show. Blech.

Tonight we had a show in Troy, AL and it was a logistical nightmare. It was at least a 10 minute walk everywhere we went. They housed all the corps in the dorms there so it was cool to get to see some of my old corps buddies from the Boston Crusaders form when I marched there in 01. The show is getting better and we are active in the race to be the first corps to break 90. Let's hope it'll be this weekend in Orlando. Orlando has always been good to the Blue Devils, especially last summer Haha. Well please write because it's fun to get mail on the road. Oh and yes mom, I am wearing my sunscreen.

Rain rain go away! So far I have mixed feelings about Alabama. The school we're staying at is by far the nicest we've seen; a comfortable gym, adjustable showers, and multiple practice fields. However, because of the rain, the air is disgustingly humid and our nice stadium has a pool of quick sand in the middle. The cloud cover has been nice because it keeps the temperature down, but we're trying to learn changes to the show and the rain is severely hindering our progress. Tonights show will be interesting to see if the members can retain all the visual and musical changes that were added yesterday and today.

Personally, I'm doing okay. There's been a cold floating around the corps and I think I just picked it up. Although, I might have gotten it from two nights ago when I got stuck in the rain after the show, held up the buses, and was so drenched that I had to spend the next eight hour bus ride wearing nothing but a towel... naaaah, that can't be it.

In gym news a group of friends and I have constructed a fort. You know the forts you used to make as a kid? One of those but better! It comes complete with spy towers, a locking door, secret password, and a sign that reads ''No Phils allowed." (You have to know Phil) Hooray for never growing up!

Alright, I've got to get back to rehearsal now. Hopefully I'll be able to send more diary entries in soon but if not send me an email and I'll try to respond as soon as I can. Take care all. Matane.

Well we are currently in Hoover, Alabama and these are times when it reminds me that I hate the south. I can not stand sweating when I am doing nothing. There was a huge rain storm last night that caused the hornline to do their entire night block in the school. This rehearsal did a lot of good for us because it allowed us to lock down our final major changes to the show. Cut and paste here drill changes there all to make the chow that much better.

Thank you to all of the people that have sent me e-mails. It is always good to hear from the "outside world". Tonight we have a show as well as a clinic preceding. The season is going to start flying by very soon. Now that we are in regional mode the weekends come quickly and the weeks by even faster. It also helps that I am having a pretty good summer having a good time always seems to make the summer go by fast.

We the field lining crew didn't have to line a field yesterday or today that is always nice to get up and not have to line a field. Although lining a field in the morning is good for getting your mind working or it coukd be the fumes from the paint. This next friday we will be competing at the citrus bowl it will be good to return to that stadium after claiming our 11th dci title there.

The bus rides have deffintely been a great time this summer. Having CJ,Peter,Charlie, and Travis on the bus has deffintley brought major comic relief on the bus this year. Lately it has been pretty quit on the bus beacuse of us taking the sleep time required to get us through the day.

It has beem great that more and more of our staff is coming back John and todd recently joined us their contributions will defintley make us better fast. We finally have a full staff again for about a week we only had a skelaton staff but at the same time the corps was still getting way better.

On a competition note it will be great to see the vanguard this friday then the cadets a week from Thursday. The front line is all very close this year it will be very interesting when we all meet in murfreesburo ( spelling). But until that time we have will keep doing what we are doing and that is being a champion in everything we do.

I'm technically writing on sunday. It's 12:45am sunday morning. So yeah, I'm keeping my word of writing every sunday.

Yeah...sunday...just had a great show on SATURDAY. We own saturday nights. We're all about them. We hype to the song "Saturday Night" by Ozomatli. Check it out, it's off of their newest album "Street Signs." Track number 7. We get that song rolling, and we rock the buses side to side. Good times all around.

We had a great week of rehearsals. This is one of the most consistant drumlines I've ever been in. We keep getting better and better, and we're keeping all the information the staff gives us. Once again, good times all around.

Yesterday...wait, 2 days ago, on Friday, we had a day off in Chicago. The day DAY off turned into 4 hours off. We got stuck in traffic on the way in. It supposed to be a max 2 hour drive. Nope..turned into a 3 and a half our drive. I was really wanting to watch like 2 movies. Spider Man and King Aurthur. God I can't wait to see them. Next free day that's all I'm doing. Oh well, I did get new jeans, ate some great Thai food, and stocked up on munchies for the bus. After all of that, we started walking back, it rained. Yeah, it rained on our free 4 hours. I enjoyed it actually, I love the rain. It was fun, short, but fun.

As of today, we are half way through our tour. Pretty wierd, it's going by very fast. My last summer is almost over. I'm happy it's going by with great progress. Well I am off to try to finish watching 'Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.' I'm impressed the bus allowed viewing this film. I love this flick. Adios.