another season done...

 The Jay County Marching Patriots placed 4th yesterday at the State Fair Band Day Competition. The kids performed two awesome shows and I'm very glad that I was a part of it. This finish, although finishing our 16 year series of 3rd or better, extended our 5th or better years to 17. This gives us the record for must top 5 finishes in a row which was previously held by Ben Davis at 16. We hold the record for for both most consecutive 3rd and better and 5th and better finishes. It is sad to see my 9th season with the Patriots come to a close. Who knows what next year holds?

Summer 2005 on Film

Another production by Jason and Mark! Thanks for another great summer!

the weeks at an end

Aren't we so cute?

My 9th week of band camp is officially over. After about a 3 hour nap I feel almost recuperated:-). The was fruitful for the kids and I think we've cleaned the show up alot, as well as added some new neat things. You'll have to come out Sunday if you want to see it or attend the State Fair Band Day. It was also announced last night that Dr. Cheryl Guise, this summers drum instructor, has been selected as the new assistant band director to fill the position that Mr. Smeltzer vacated. It appears to be a good fit as she's came in this summer and blended into the current system very well. So, congrats to "Doc" Guise for the new job!!

Between the head and the hair it looks humongo!!

I also want to announce that I've continued my reign as the winner of the "Watermelon Head" award this year. This morning at the awards gathering I was given (i think) my 5th such award. I just want to thank all of my supporters. Without you this could have never of happened :-). This picture is actually a self portrait, I took it myself! I'm looking quite slick with my "I Rock" Adidas shirt, Nike shorts, and my 'thongs':-D. I was feeling pretty tired this morning and didn't feel like getting properly dressed.

ahhh

So band camp is almost over...it's currently movie night. We're watching Hitch. Only one more morning of practice then back to Jay. We've came along this week and I have high hopes for this coming Wednesday. We'll just have to see if we've made up the point gap we were facing. If you're in the Jay County area you should stop in this Sunday to watch the Ice Cream Social. Check out the JC Marching Patriots website for times.

we'll see about the rest of me..

wednesday @ band camp

 Kids made it through the day without totally crashing and burning. The staffers pulled off another pizza/olympics night without anybody getting injured and everything getting done. Overall a good wednesday as they go. I, on the other hand, feel like crashing and burning. I've got issues!

It could be because (as shown) I'm not the smartest fell'r :-) My head is large and think (not that the hat helps with that any)

drained

It's only day 2 of Band Camp and I'm drained. Mentally and physically!! Too much to think about and do lately. Need to sit back and figure things out!

Another good day here at band camp. We added some horn moves and cleaned most of the rest of the charts. The kids did another awesome job of staying focused and getting stuff done. Tonight, is pizza night and band camp olympics so hopefully they can last another day with that giving them something to look forward too. Wednesday is typically a crash and burn day so we'll see.

Band Camp - Day 1

 Wooohooo!! Day one is done!! It went rather smoothly without major mishaps. Pictures should be added to the Gallery at the JC Website soon! The whether down here in Oxford, OH is great!! Super hot, super humid, no cool breeze, and no rain. Doesn't get much better. But never fail, the food here at band camp is awesome!

We've already made quite a few changes and additions to the show and the kids are picking them up rather quickly. Hopefully they're all for the better.

I have survived Day 1 and here's a little proof for you!!

Am I Not Beautiful???

I just barely survived because of all the good food I ate!

what a week!

well, where to begin? Since the last post the band has gotten 3rd in two more competitions. The thing to note though is that South lost to Highland at Delaware. I think the kid's reacted more to that than any other announcement yet this year. We're leaving tomorrow for band camp, it should be fun :-). I'm already tired though, which mean's I'll probably perish by the end of the week!

huh...the sun's up!

Interesting weekend. Kinda got slammed with the band but it's a good thing. They named a million things we could fix to decrease the gap between us and the top 2. Much better than them saying awesome job, you guys are great, just 8 points worse than the other guys :-p. This week is the Jay County Contest as well as the Delaware Contest. It will be interesting to see how it goes.

what a night

what a night! Lots of wierd things happened last evening at the Martinsville contest. Not only did the percussion somehow pull of the percussion caption but we had to stay in Martinsville High School for an hour or so because the county was under a storm warning. To start the evening off one of the (new/forced on us) bus drivers got lost on 465, shouldn't they know where they're going and not rely completely on the other drivers??, and ended up getting to the contest 30 minutes late.

We got second behind southside last night by like 4 points.

Martinsville

Band is coming along nicely, stepping and playing the entire show with the first contest next thursday @ Martinsville. Getting a little excited about the track show circuit starting up.

Another Day

I came home to late to make it to band, it was an early practice.

The band learned the rest of the show while I was gone. It's pretty kewl watching them march and play the entire show. Other than the fact the kids talk like crazy it seems they're all in good spirits about the undertaking and are adjusting to Mr. Smeltzer as director. I'm still super excited about the ordeal.

Pool Party!

Cannon ball!



Check out more footage of our summer in the picture gallery!

busy lil’ bee

I came back for the volunteer work. The JC Marching Patriots are off to a good start under the new supervision of Mr. Smeltzer. It's going pretty smooth considering the nasty weather we had the opening week. I have high hopes for our sweet drill and music!!

it’s a new day…

i had this same feeling a couple weeks ago (right after graduation) ....the one where you realize that the life you knew is no more and a new one is beginning. Now I must start a different life, which will last till about August 10th, MARCHING BAND TIME!! So I should be properly distracted for at least that time frame but at some point life is going to catch up :-p