for tyler

i hope this post will curb your tetris playing. i might even put something interesting in it.

so we got back from all-state yesterday afternoon. it was pretty fun. since Daniel didn't go, a guy from harrisonburg roomed with us. his name was Patrick. i had to bunk with him. but he was pretty cool so i didn't mind that much.

actually at supper on friday i won the bed to myself. i was sitting with Patrick and one of his girl friends from harrisonburg (who i ended up getting to know a lot better later on). three girls were sitting on the other side of the cafeteria, one of which was being eyed by many of the males at the event. Patrick started talking about her, one thing led to another, and eventually he told me he'd sleep in the shower if I got every one of their phone numbers.

i had to do it. it was too good an offer to pass up. so i went over, introduced myself, and kept up a conversation for about five or ten minutes. they were from Charlottesville. two seniors and a junior. after some time i figured my spaghetti was getting cold so i copped out and told them about the bet i made with Patrick. then i told them i was afraid of him and he was abusive. they thought it was hilarious and happily gave me their digits and they even took a photo with me. but i don't know the area code or any of their names. i never told Patrick exactly what i said. so now Jessie and Storm think i'm a ladies' man. and i won't tell them any different.

oh and we almost got kicked out. it was because of the aforementioined woman friend. Patrick brought her into the room without our consent to iron his dress shirt. then they had sex. just kidding. but she did get caught leaving our suite. co-eding is majorly frowned upon.

yeah all the chaperones were pissed. it was like midnight and they had to wake up and call a council and talk for hours about what was going to happen to us. Patrick and Joy got booted first thing. i was really sorry for them. they were pretty nice. and they both covered for us. they said that we had nothing to do with anything that went down. and all the chaperones pled our case to the president of the Virginia Choral Whatever. except for the mean old lady one. the guys made me answer the door every time, and every time it was her.

after Patrick's initial interrogation, we all slept a little. but around 1:30 one of the chaperones woke us up and brought the Waynesboro kids in for questioning. there were maybe five adults, and they put us on trial and gave us our sentence in one meeting. they basically said that although we may not have been guilty by action we were still guilty by association and according to the rules that we were bound to in the papers we signed with our parents...etc...we were going to go home. i mean, they had woken up mr. Ryman to get him to contact our parents immediately. Ryman played it cool though and flatly refused on the grounds that he would only do that if there was an emergency, and the situation at hand did not constitute an emergencey. it was really nice of him. i mean really nice of him. he said he couldn't be mad, because it was a terrible spot to be in, and if he had been faced with the same scenario at the same age, he would have done the same thing.

so Storm argued on our defense. Jessie and I stayed silent. he brought up the fact that he didn't think it was fair, we didn't even really know Patrick, and we wouldn't have been rooming with him if Daniel had come, and his actions shouldn't speak for ours, and we were just there to sing, we didn't want any trouble, we were victims of circumstance, he had family coming in from all over the state, his mom was going to be so mad, please just don't send us home. then they said that's how they felt, too, and they were going to convene with the prez again. except for the mean one. she was just condescending.

when they sent us back to the room, they talked to Patrick. when he came back he felt like crap because they must have told him that we were gonna get shipped. and so he was sulky and quiet. and he ended up sleeping in the bed.

later that morning, Storm, Jessie, and i didn't know what was going to happen when we went down to breakfast. needless to say, none of us had the will to eat. it's about a 2 hour drive to Spotsylvania, then 2 hours back. add an angry parent who has wasted their whole day driving to pick up a lawless child whom she had looked upon earlier with affection and was now very disappointed with, and you've got a world of trouble. mom would have had 2 hours to aggravate her anger and 2 hours to make me feel miserable. and mama Burks would have been even worse, i think, because she's a principal.

but mr. Ryman called Storm at breakfast and said they let us stay, but we'd have to talk to the prez. when we did, she told Ryman he should enforce some disciplinary action like making us do menial tasks around the chior room. it was still very relieving. it would have been awful to gain such an infamous name for ourselves, especially after the Tracy Weaver Thomas Strait Scandal.

but this was the first time this sort of thing had ever happened at this event. nobody had ever been kicked out of all state chorus before. it's sort of cool to think we were directly involved in the incident, yet relatively escaped without harm.

but all that took place just hours before or the day of the concert. we cut it close. the show went without a hitch. the director faintly resembled a puppet, particularly when he wore sweaters with baggy sleeves. he's from the university of kansas city, i think. he was the director at districts last year.

and that's about it. i wish i had some pictures to post, but i never have a camera when i need one.