Thanks to Dan Malone for fixing my blog problem!

I nearly died last night. I woke up yesterday morning with a stabbing headache and a majorly soar throat. I ask my mom for an alkaselzter and she says, of all things, “Have too much to drink last night?” I think my mom’s starting to assume the worst in me. Poor naive mom.I practically did nothing all day yesterday except sit around and watch tv and take drugs. It was about this same time last year that I got sick for a week and missed the week before all my finals. Turns out, I nearly failed all of them (which might end up being this year’s case, too). But then I remember I promised Mike Decamp that I would come and film his band’s CD release show at the Real Bar. Great. So I ran out and got a bag of Ricola and headed over to the venue.I found some old friends like Mormon Tim here. Tim and another friend of his student produced a play Mike and I were in about 4 or 5 years ago (wow, has it really been that long?). Back at Rhodes Junior High School, we put on Neil Simon’s Fools–probably one of the better shows I was in. Even back then, mom was assuming the worst in me: “Were you supposed to be that… fruity?” Oh, mom!The concert was great, even if my ears are still ringing. Thank God these guys highered lighting guys. Those guys made what I filmed turn out FANTASTIC. Without them, it would have been only two or three red flood lights on them–the worst color for digital film. All in all, I gotta say that I was wicked impressed with the show last night. It may be the antibodies talking but I’m almost very close to liking their music ;-).I ran out of there fairly quickly after the show–because of the blood in my ears and all– so I didn’t get to pick up my CD. I’m sure I’ll pick one up when I bring over the footage. I think I’ll pass on the IdleRed panties, though.

So today was surprisingly a little more exciting than yesterday. Turns out, the school we were recording out went into LOCKDOWN because of armed robbery that took place only a couple blocks away. I guess some of the robbers were hiding out in nearby apartment complexes or something. Luckily (or unfortunately), I was away from the action because I still had one class I had to go to this morning. Linh and I were just leaving ASU to get a quick bite to eat before I met up with Dan when I got a text message from him telling me about the whole thing. You can read more about the incident here or at Dan’s blog.Linh stopped by to hang out in the pit before she had to rush off to work. She always enjoys seeing Dan. But then again, who doesn’t? I know this isn’t the most romantic picture–seeing as how we’re sitting on the mattress I mentioned in the previous blog–but what can you do?
Actually, on a side note, Linh and went to our favorite pizza joint, Nicantonis. Turns out, the owner, Vic, found out that I plugged their restaurant in a previous blog entry so today’s lunch was on him! How cool is that? Linh and I were pleasantly surprised and left a generous tip even if our lunch was on the house. They deserve it. You can’t buy service like this place.Back at Mountain Pointe High School, Dan and I were, as usual, getting bored. But how long can you really look at MySpace profiles of hot, young girls?

The evening wrapped up pretty quickly, though. After striking the equipment and loading up the Jeep, we met Jon and Dan Schmidt, the director of bands up north at NAU, for a few drinks at Z-tejas (I had a coke). After that, I hung out at Jon and Dan’s place and watched one of my favorite movies. It’s a classic!

Today marked one of two very long days (mostly for Dan more than me). Dan is graciously recording the A.B.O.D.A (Arizona Band and Orchestra Directors Association) state concert band festival. All in all, we are recording about 35 groups over two days. We’ve set up in the pit so we can mess around a bit. Dan even bought an IP wireless web-cam so we can keep our eye on the bands above us.I also spent a couple of hours (when I should have been studying for a recent Calc III test) designing and printing these CDs for each of the schools.Dan was there at about 6:30 this morning. I still had my Java class (and that math test I failed) so I got there a little after lunch. Shortly after I got there, though, someone pulled the fire alarm and we were forced to walk outside for a whole 10 minutes! Needless to say, the next performing group was a little sharp. Now, you might be thinking: “Man, that must be pretty boring staying in the pit all day listening to all those bands play their band music in that very bland band way that bands do.” You’re absolutely right. Funny thing is (disgusting, too) there were a couple of mattresses down in the pit. What the hell are mattresses doing in the pit? We don’t want to know but we were bored enough to take this picture speculating about it. There is at least 5 things wrong, sick, and disgusting about it. See if you can guess what they are. Best answer wins a prize!