Reynolds vs. Reagan and Veterans Day Parade

This past Friday was the day of the Reynolds vs. Reagan game and yes, we are still undefeated - and yes, it was a stomping just as I had originally predicted. If I'm correct, I think that the final score was 33-9; we Reynolds students weren't as passionate about this win as we were about our triumph over West, and we only played our Fight Song once as opposed to the five times that we played it at the end of the West game.


That Friday was an interesting and fabulous day for many reasons. It was the day of our Fall Fest, so all of our classes were shortened by ten minutes, and at the end of seventh period, we were released onto the campus to visit the various booths that had been set up. It was very much like the fair in that all of the sold merchandise was overpriced, and I ended up getting birthday cake flavored ice cream for a total of nearly-worth-it $3.00. Saoirshe and I mainly wandered around and tried to find places where there weren't so many people; among others we ran into Elizabeth and Elisabeth, who kept informing us of the craziness of one booth down the hill which was becoming immensely popular; one paid a certain amount of money at the booth to have their friend incarcerated in a tiny dog gate which was erected beside the booth; in order for the incarcerated friend to escape "jail," there had to be an offering of money equal to the amount spent to put them in the "jail." Sadly, this was probably the booth which raised the most money.


When the 3:40 bell rang to signal the end of the day, I said goodbye to Saoirshe and Katelyn and hurried up to the arts building for marching band practice. People were still scattered around campus, and so the band room was fairly empty when I got there.


While we waited for people to arrive, Mitch and Alleyah decided to use the temple blocks for a word association game which was much like the famed "Concentration," except that you had to respond directly to the last word said. Among those who participated were Mitch and Alleyah (obviously), myself, Virginia, Laura, and a few dancing boot girls who wandered in. This amusing game lasted for about ten minutes before Mr. James, who was pushing chairs around, said "O.K. No more word association."


People gradually began to filter in, and we ran "America the Beautiful," and "The Star-Spangled Banner" before we took the former outside to march it around the auditorium. The last latecomers scrambled into their respective places in line as we marched.


After we were done rehearsing, we were instructed to load our instruments onto the trailer before the food arrived. We did this and still had time to wander around before the ordered pizza was set up in the hallway outside of the band room. While we waited, we mostly hung around outside, some of us playing football down by the main building and others just mingling near the bleachers. I joined a group of people that included Carrie and Virginia who were constructing a leafpile on the grass near the arts building; we kicked the leaves into the center until the pile was about waist high. Then, we lined up beside it, preparing to jump in, when suddenly Reid came out of nowhere and ran through it. Then, Virginia laid down in the leaf pile and people began to cover her with the scattered leaves. Someone took a picture of her, and then it was decided that it would be hilarious to have Virginia jump out at Yanal from the leaf pile.

Carrie and I ran around to the side of the building, where Yanal, Vipul, and Mike were messing around with the temple blocks; Yanal refused to accompany us around the building, but we persuaded Vipul to come in his place. We told him to admire the leaf pile, and he made to jump in it as Virginia simultaneously emerged. Thankfully, Virginia wasn't crushed, and it was quite amusing. Shortly after this, the pizza arrived, we ate (discussing various songs that we had learned in Spanish class while we waited in line), and then we boarded the buses to go to the game.

The game was at home. One of the more eventful parts of the night happened during halftime, when a group of us were standing together near the drum-line's section. George Bailey, a former student, had come to visit and was there also. I arrived as jokes were being exchanged, including the infamous humpback whale joke, the punch-line of which is a long, drawn-out noise that is supposed to resemble the noise that a humpback whale makes (Carrie had not heard this joke yet).

I then shared the "Supplies!" joke which was received poorly by all except for Vipul, who seemed to think it was funny; I then discovered that he had never heard the "Interrupting Cow" joke. I changed that, and he spent the rest of the night telling it to people who obviously already knew. It was rather amusing.
So, the next day was the parade; our call time was 8:30, far too early for a Saturday, might I add. We marched down a stretch of Fourth Street before turning to the right down some street a little past Cherry. At the bottom of the hill, there was a bridge, under which our buses waited. I drew one major conclusion from this parade experience, and it was this: It is more fun to watch people watching a parade (as you're marching in the parade) than it is to watch a parade. On that note, I'll sign off.