Back to School

We have a fun video for all of you to watch this week. CLICK HERE for it on Youtube. If you liked the "They're taking the hobbits to Isengard" spoof video then you'll love this too! For all of you fans of the TV show 24, watch for the cameo of Jack Bauer and President Palmer.

Anyway, it has been a very busy time here in the Mealey household. Two weeks ago was band camp. What a week it was! I was chosen as section leader this year, and as such am responsible for the care and maintenance of the French horn section. I've been so pumped for this marching season all through the summer! Monday was spent getting to know people in the section and learning M&M (not the candies - I know them very well! It means marching and maneuvering). Tuesday we spent the day learning our pregame show, which is pretty lengthy at 19 sets and several pages of music along with horn flashes; it's about a 10-15 min sequence. It turned out really well after just eight hours of rehearsal. Most high schools learn maybe 5 sets in that amount of time. We have a great band this year! Wednesday and Thursday we got half of the first movement of our "B Show" (about 12 sets) and all of our "A Show" (around 9 sets). These were a lot more fun.

Our A Show is based on the music of the band Journey (the songs were Separate Ways, Anyway You Want It, and Don't Stop Believin), so it was a real crowd-pleaser. Our B Show is Frank Sinatra themed; featuring the songs Ol' Man River (jazzed up of course), The Lady is a Tramp, and I've Got the World on a String. It's gonna be such a fun year in marching band.

This last Saturday was the first game of the season, and it was a good one! We performed our A Show with the band and that went well. I sometimes forget why I do marching band, especially during the hard marching band weeks and the rehearsals and the "Ok guys do it one more time" for the fourth time. But when I get to game day, it all comes back. The thrill of the 65,000 person crowd cheering (even if it isn't for us :p), and being on a field that so few people actually get to do something on, and being part of something that is bigger than I am. It all is so worth it. Go band! Anyway, the game was really close all the way down, but the Cougars won out in the end with a 23-17 win.

Classes started last week. Brittany and I are both extremely busy this semester with work and classes. We sat down on one family night and worked out the calendar. When we were done, two hours later, we sat back and realized that we had literally no time for much of anything. We had to resort to scheduling our time together to fit in between classes and work and everything else. It's a sad life, but it's working so far. Brittany is looking forward to applying for graduation in the coming months. She's pondering if she wants to do graduate school, but that would be a ways off because the graduate schools that have the programs she is looking for aren't anywhere near here. (University of North Texas is a possibility, though.) We shall see on that. She is taking an ASL class and loves finding interesting things to learn in it.

Anyway, we love you all! Hope everyone is doing great.
Love,
Christian and Brittany