I am currently on a bus en route to Athens after spending the weekend in Dallas, Tx with the UGA Women's Basketball team. It was a pretty good trip even if it did end with an early defeat.
Luckily we did not take a bus all the way to Dallas, Tx but rather a plane. Also, just as a kicker, this particular plane was chartered by the University of Georgia, so we got special treatment. Our bus was allowed to drive onto the tarmac, where we were met by our own security checkpoint. Our bags were checked and we were screened before loading directly onto the plane. It goes without saying that I still haven't seen the inside of an airport! That being said, this was my first plane trip EVER, so I was not sure what to expect. Well, it wasn't bad at all with the exception of the rare occurrence of turbulence. The scariest part of flying was definitely the landing bit. Take off was fun, like a roller coaster. Mid-flight was relatively smooth and relaxed. However, landing was a completely different beast! When the plane begins to slow down and descend, it shakes a lot. Finally, when the landing gear makes contact with the tarmac, it feels like you have just crashed! Nonetheless, flying was a fun adventure!
We had the entirety of Saturday to roam around Dallas as we pleased, so I took full advantage of this time. I started the day with some friends on a failed search for somewhere to eat brunch which ended with eating just lunch at an awesome Mexican restaurant called the Iron Cactus. I recommend the meatloaf as it was pretty good. After lunch, we toured the Dallas World Aquarium, which turns out to be more of a zoo than an aquarium. The first part of the tour was a rainforest theme complete with birds flying around wherever they pleased. It was pretty cool and worth every penny of the $20 price tag. Dinner was, well, interesting. We ate at a joint called Dick's Last Resort. This is no ordinary restaurant. The waitstaff is rude and throws stuff at you and makes goofy looking hats out of butcher paper upon which they write insults such as "I eat my boogers" (I saw this one on a kid that couldn't have been older than 2 or 3! lol). This may sound bad, but it is all a part of the atmosphere. The humor is rather crude at times, but if you are willing to endure the B- food, it is hilarious! After that, I went back to the hotel and hung out with some other friends until like 3am. It was a fun day!
Sunday rolled around and I woke up around 10:30 and walked to McDonald's to get some breakfast because I had pretty well blown my $60 per diem on Saturday's exploits. We met in the lobby of the hotel to leave for the game but before we could leave, none other than the great Herschel Walker appears in the door of our hotel. We all freaked out and swarmed him and requested pictures with one of the greatest Bulldawgs of all time. After the impromptu photo shoot, we left for the game optimistic that we were going to whip Texas A&M and move on to the second game of regionals on Tuesday (and get another $60 in per diem). Well, the game did not go as expected and we lost, thus we came on home.
The band's ensemble was slightly off kilter. We only had two trumpet players rather than the six that we should have had. We were nervous about having to step up and play one-on-a-part, but we pulled it off. I usually play 3rd part, but today I had to play 2nd (and a little 1st on Glory when I forgot the 2nd part). It was very intimidating to play music that I have never practiced in a performance situation, but thanks to a lunchtime rehearsal, it went ok.
The flight home was pretty similar to the one out there, except that it was a good bit quicker! I left out one important (funny) detail about a tradition the band has when it comes to take-offs on band trips. As soon as the plane starts down the runway we start calling the Dawgs "Goooooooooooooooo..." and as soon as we are in the air we complete the cheer "DAWGS, SIC 'EM!!!". I can only imagine what the pilots and stewardesses thought about this, but we found it hilarious.
All in all, it was a pretty good trip. I enjoyed hanging out with my fellow band members and getting to know them a little better in the more intimate setting of Basketball Band.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
TEXAS!?!?!?
The University of Georgia Women's Basketball team will be traveling to Dallas, TX to take on Texas A&M in the Sweet 16. I, along with ~23 other members of the UGA Basketball Band, will be traveling with them to make the other team's life a little more difficult. I am pretty stoked about this trip, and I really want my girls to win this (we are the underDAWG) so that we can prove to the world that UGA Women's Basketball is a force to be reckoned with. This being said, one of the traditions of the trumpet section during football season it to have a hype (a time of degradation of the other team) to get everyone pumped up for the game. Well, here is my attempt at writing one for basketball!
Ladies and gentlemen, we are about to embark on a very important mission. This mission will not be easy, but it is one that we must accomplish. We must beat Texas A&M! We are going to be on their turf, in front of their fans, but we shall overcome! The great state of Georgia doesn't often deal with the Lone Star State, but Sunday we are going to wipe the floor with them! The way I see it, there are three reasons why UGA should be Texas A&M.
1) They are dumb. (How dumb are they?) Well, I am glad you asked! They are so dumb, that if they had to come to Georgia to play this game, they would end up in California!
2) I'm just going to leave this point to Lee Ermy...
3) Maroon is an ugly color.
4) Three Famous Texans: Bonnie and Clyde and Mark David Chapman. (Ryker has managed to be awesome despite his being from Texas. This may have been the result of spending his college years in Georgia!)
5) They don't have a real mascot! I mean seriously, what is an Aggie anyway? Sounds like a disease to me!
Ok... So this may not be all that interesting, but I was bored and wanted an excuse to have Lee Ermy and Spongebob Squarepants both on my blog!
Ladies and gentlemen, we are about to embark on a very important mission. This mission will not be easy, but it is one that we must accomplish. We must beat Texas A&M! We are going to be on their turf, in front of their fans, but we shall overcome! The great state of Georgia doesn't often deal with the Lone Star State, but Sunday we are going to wipe the floor with them! The way I see it, there are three reasons why UGA should be Texas A&M.
1) They are dumb. (How dumb are they?) Well, I am glad you asked! They are so dumb, that if they had to come to Georgia to play this game, they would end up in California!
2) I'm just going to leave this point to Lee Ermy...
3) Maroon is an ugly color.
4) Three Famous Texans: Bonnie and Clyde and Mark David Chapman. (Ryker has managed to be awesome despite his being from Texas. This may have been the result of spending his college years in Georgia!)
5) They don't have a real mascot! I mean seriously, what is an Aggie anyway? Sounds like a disease to me!
Ok... So this may not be all that interesting, but I was bored and wanted an excuse to have Lee Ermy and Spongebob Squarepants both on my blog!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
This week has already been interesting...
Here we are, not even halfway through this week, and I have already had to deem it "interesting". This week can be not be better described by any other word or phrase in the English language.
Monday:
+I found out that my Spanish exam had like 19 points added to it.
-I got a failing grade on my Second Language Acquisition exam.
-I (probably) failed my Phonetics exam.
-My iPhone stopped working.
Tuesday:
+The women's basketball team won, so I get to go to Dallas on Friday.
-I am one of only two trumpet players on the trip. *scary*
+My iPhone decided to start working again.
+/-I dropped my SLA class
--Two Athens-Clarke County police officers were shot and one died.
So yea, pluses and minuses all over the place!
You may be wondering why I labeled the officers being shot as a super negative. Well, it hits pretty close to home. My mom and step-dad are both police officers, and because of that, I have several friends who are in the law enforcement profession. Hearing that someone had the audacity to shoot and kill a police officer infuriates me! Jamie Hood, the shooter, deserves nothing less than death. My prayers go out to Officer Tony Howard as he recovers from his injuries and also to the family and friends of Officer Elmer "Buddy" Christian as they grieve for their loss.
Monday:
+I found out that my Spanish exam had like 19 points added to it.
-I got a failing grade on my Second Language Acquisition exam.
-I (probably) failed my Phonetics exam.
-My iPhone stopped working.
Tuesday:
+The women's basketball team won, so I get to go to Dallas on Friday.
-I am one of only two trumpet players on the trip. *scary*
+My iPhone decided to start working again.
+/-I dropped my SLA class
--Two Athens-Clarke County police officers were shot and one died.
So yea, pluses and minuses all over the place!
You may be wondering why I labeled the officers being shot as a super negative. Well, it hits pretty close to home. My mom and step-dad are both police officers, and because of that, I have several friends who are in the law enforcement profession. Hearing that someone had the audacity to shoot and kill a police officer infuriates me! Jamie Hood, the shooter, deserves nothing less than death. My prayers go out to Officer Tony Howard as he recovers from his injuries and also to the family and friends of Officer Elmer "Buddy" Christian as they grieve for their loss.
 |
| Officer Tony Howard |
 |
| Officer Elmer "Buddy" Christian |
Friday, March 18, 2011
Is this a dream?
Tonight I hung out with some friends, both new and old. We watched the movie Inception. Yes, this was the second time I have seen this movie, but it had the same effect on me this time as it did the last in that I have a headache, again. However, I think I may have figured this puzzle of a movie out! Now, if you have not seen Inception, you should go see it before reading the rest of this post as it will spoil the plot!
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Alrighty, here we go!
(This theory is based on the assumption that the top continued to spin after the movie ended)
Ok, lets start with reality. Reality is where the top stops spinning. The top was Cobb's way of proving to himself (and us) that what we are seeing is reality. Alrighty, then why did the top not stop at the end of the movie where we returned to reality? The simple answer is that we are in a different reality, or reality 2 as I will call it in the rest of this post.
Reality 1 is a dream created by Cobb. This explains why the top stops. He knows the physics of the top, so in a dream created by himself, the top would stop because his mind houses both the concept of physics and the physical structure of the top. Reality 2 is a dream created by someone else, possibly his father, but I am not too sure about this. I will eventually watch the movie again to get a better idea.
So now we have a concept for the true reality (reality 3). This reality is not shown in the movie, but based on evidence in the movie it must exist.
Here is a map of the realities/dreams in the movie. (Ignoring the first part of the movie.)
1) Reality 3, aka the true reality
2) Reality 2, the dream created by someone else, where we end the movie
3) Reality 1, the dream created by Cobb within reality 2, where we begin the movie
4) Dream level 1, the van
5) Dream level 2, the hotel
6) Dream level 3, the snowy fort thingy
7) Limbo
Here is my plausible series of events.
Cobb's wife dies in reality 3, he gets arrested and is put into a dream by an extractor that has been hired by the government to find out what happened. I think this extractor could be his father. Anyways, the dream is very much like reality and Cobb puts himself in another dream to escape the pain of reality, which is funny because he actually is not in reality. He gets stuck in this dream because his proof of reality gives a false positive due to the fact that the creator of the dream (Cobb) knows the physics of the top, thus causing it to act in the same fashion as Cobb expects it to. This is where we start the movie (again ignoring the first bit of the movie).
So, how do we end up in reality 2 at the end of the movie when Cobb expects it to be reality 1? The kick he received in limbo was strong enough to catapult him through all three dream levels and reality 1. The sedative that the extractor has Cobb under must be very strong, even stronger than the one used by Cobb to enter the dream levels. Also, if Cobb is stuck in his dream, he may appear dead in reality, so if he ever does wake up from his dream and the one he has unwillingly entered, he would probably be in a coffin.
In summary, we never see the true reality in Inception. All we see is six levels of dreams.
I don't know if this will make sense to anyone else or if it is just my mind working in strange ways after seeing a head-trip of a movie and contemplating it after 1:00 am. I hope you enjoyed this little trip into my head!
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Alrighty, here we go!
(This theory is based on the assumption that the top continued to spin after the movie ended)
Ok, lets start with reality. Reality is where the top stops spinning. The top was Cobb's way of proving to himself (and us) that what we are seeing is reality. Alrighty, then why did the top not stop at the end of the movie where we returned to reality? The simple answer is that we are in a different reality, or reality 2 as I will call it in the rest of this post.
Reality 1 is a dream created by Cobb. This explains why the top stops. He knows the physics of the top, so in a dream created by himself, the top would stop because his mind houses both the concept of physics and the physical structure of the top. Reality 2 is a dream created by someone else, possibly his father, but I am not too sure about this. I will eventually watch the movie again to get a better idea.
So now we have a concept for the true reality (reality 3). This reality is not shown in the movie, but based on evidence in the movie it must exist.
Here is a map of the realities/dreams in the movie. (Ignoring the first part of the movie.)
1) Reality 3, aka the true reality
2) Reality 2, the dream created by someone else, where we end the movie
3) Reality 1, the dream created by Cobb within reality 2, where we begin the movie
4) Dream level 1, the van
5) Dream level 2, the hotel
6) Dream level 3, the snowy fort thingy
7) Limbo
Here is my plausible series of events.
Cobb's wife dies in reality 3, he gets arrested and is put into a dream by an extractor that has been hired by the government to find out what happened. I think this extractor could be his father. Anyways, the dream is very much like reality and Cobb puts himself in another dream to escape the pain of reality, which is funny because he actually is not in reality. He gets stuck in this dream because his proof of reality gives a false positive due to the fact that the creator of the dream (Cobb) knows the physics of the top, thus causing it to act in the same fashion as Cobb expects it to. This is where we start the movie (again ignoring the first bit of the movie).
So, how do we end up in reality 2 at the end of the movie when Cobb expects it to be reality 1? The kick he received in limbo was strong enough to catapult him through all three dream levels and reality 1. The sedative that the extractor has Cobb under must be very strong, even stronger than the one used by Cobb to enter the dream levels. Also, if Cobb is stuck in his dream, he may appear dead in reality, so if he ever does wake up from his dream and the one he has unwillingly entered, he would probably be in a coffin.
In summary, we never see the true reality in Inception. All we see is six levels of dreams.
I don't know if this will make sense to anyone else or if it is just my mind working in strange ways after seeing a head-trip of a movie and contemplating it after 1:00 am. I hope you enjoyed this little trip into my head!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
It's been a while
Well, Redcoat season is well over, but that doesn't mean I can't post here (does it?)! Basketball band was a lot of fun and I am looking forward to seeing how far Fox's Hounds can go in the NCAA Tournament! In other news, I am currently playing with the University Band here at UGA. Our next/last concert is April 26 (I think), so any of my readers that happen to be around Athens should come out for a great time of awesome music.
Now, on to Redcoat matters! I did not get chosen to be a Rank leader for the 2011 season, but oh well, there is always next year! I still haven't heard about what I need to do to get on the Derbies Pep Band, but I will post whenever I do! Finally, G-Day is rapidly approaching! (April 16) I am excited about getting back together with my 400 closest friends as the full Redcoat Band. Getting to play 'Glory' in pep band settings, but being a part of the full band is way more epic.
Until next time, Go Dawgs!
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