Special Events.. BAND CAMP EDITION!! (Water, Prank, and Seniority!)

So a few days ago, I posted about a typical day at band camp.

However, I left out the not-so-typical stuff. AKA the Special Events.

We have two main special events at band camp. The first is the "top-secret" water ballon attack. At least it's supposed to be a secret... somehow the newbies always know about it...

There's always some cover story. Last year it was learning to march for a parade (we knew something was up there because we never do parades). This year, we were told that one of our instructors (who has been working with Legends Drum Corps this summer) wanted to teach us a new marching exercise. However, in order to teach it to us, we would have to transfer from our new practice field to the one we usually use on the other side of the camp.

On the way to the attack...

 

OF COURSE, the parents were waiting along the path with buckets of water ballons and sponges. As is tradition, we were ambushed, and the water balloon fight began.



Me battling with my battle tiara!

I also somehow end up getting a bucket of water dumped on my head every year.

Happened twice this year. Once from my dad, the other from my co-drum major.

Thanks guys.

 

 

The other special event was one that everyone gets to participate in once in their

years of marching band.

 

Senior Prank.

 

After our Friday night Ice Cream Social (which was modeled after a speakeasy this year), the Seniors traditionally use the night to wreak havoc across the camp. This year was our year, and havoc was indeed wreaked.

 

We had plans to prank the cabins, but we had TONS of time to kill before all the younglings went to sleep, so we hung out in the main pavillion!

 

Class of 2014 baby!!

We also wrapped up all the instruments and made a giant maze...

 

See that up at the top? Yep. That's Connor and Mark planking.

 

After it was dark enough (and late enough), we all headed out to the field. We disassembled the scaffolding, only to reassemble it... around a tree.

Graham, Taylor, and Nikki tearing apart the scaffolding.

 

Next on the list was the cabins... Kirsten and I were in charge of the younger girls cabin.

 

 

Red string everywhere!!!

We also wrapped all the bunks in red string.

And I may have put fake rats in a few girls' beds...

 

ANYWAYS, the staff was next on the list.

Now, these guys tried to be smart, so they locked the front door.

YAAY! They kept us out!!

 

Unfortunately for them, all of us have been in band for three years or more.

 

That means that we've been at band camp for three years or more.

 

Which means that we know how to get in through the back door.

Which no one thought to lock...

 

So after we felt like ninjas by sneaking in through the back door, we went to work.

 

CAUTION!

 

Front walkway. It's like MARDI GRAS up in here!!

 

No laptop is safe! ESPECIALLY not my mother's!!!!

 

We also tied doorknobs together and threw red string all over the kitchen.

Then we silently snuck out and went to tag staff cars...

 

 

 

Mr. Farrell got a healthy reminder of what our show is this year...

 

 

 

 

And my dad's Jeep? DEFINITELY not safe.

My father, Mr. Cate, has been officially retitled "Mista Kate" by our band.

(Speaking of Mista Kate, he has a wifi blog! If you're into wifi like he is, go check it out!)

Did I just shamelessly promote my father's blog?

Yep.

 

 

So at about 3:30 in the morning, we all finally went to sleep.

Only to wake up three hours later.

YAY!

 

Jen, Kirsten, me and Nikki the next morning!

 

 

awww look!

Mista Kate is the proud parent of a drum major!

 

 

SENIORS!!!!!!

 

 

It was a good year.

It was a good prank.

It's going to be an awesome season.

 

 

 

Us with our awesome rebuilt scaffolding!!

 

So stay cool (especially if you're in the FLA... it's so hot down here!)

and always remember to be awesome!!

 

 

 

 

                                                -SarahCate:D

 

 

Question of the Post: What's the best prank you've ever done?

 

A Day In The Life... BAND CAMP EDITION!!

Ah, Band Camp.

Say about it what you will, but I look forward to it every year.
This year, however, it was bittersweet. It was my last band camp. :(


I left last Sunday with the other officers to go down and line the marching field... except the camp had been having TONS of rain so the field was waterlogged. We ended up sitting around all night. It was awesome.

By the time the rest of the band arrived Monday morning, we had managed to construct a crude practice field on a small dry patch of the field. The lines were awful, but they worked for what we needed.

Us lucky duck officers got to go line a second field during free time. It worked out better though, as this field had shade for most of the day.


SO Here's how a typical day at band camp goes:

This year, Cara (my co-drum major) and I decided to switch things up a bit, especially in the mornings. We've always had morning conditioning (right after daily cabin inspections), but this year we put them to music! It made mornings much better!

Cara and me!

 

 

Cara, Nikki, and myself getting the band into morning workouts.

 

After morning workouts, we would go to breakfast. The camp we go to has a GREAT kitchen, and we're lucky to get unlimited amounts of good food (you don't understand how much of a blessing that is unless you're at a camp with teenagers).

 

Breakfast was followed by morning fun on the field! We usually will do a marching basics block to get re-warmed up after breakfast, and this year we added a dance fundamentals block, as we're apparently doing some dance in our show!

 

Whee! Destin, Jordan, Connor and I are flying!!

 

Hardcore across the fields!

 

The best part about a three hour morning block? Lunch was right there to look forward to!

Waiting to see who will go in first...

 

During the week, we split up into sections as our teams (Woodwinds (clearly the best), Brass, Pit, and Guard). We have a point system that begins Monday night, when all the teams have to come up with team names and a team skit. This year, we had:

Brass: Brass Got The Stash (our show theme is the 1920s, so their skit was about a brass speakeasy)

Pit: The Insiders (since they stay inside all day. Their skit was... interesting)

Guard: Gangster Girls (again keeping with the 1920s theme)

AND

Woodwinds: Woodwinds of the Caribbean (Pirates of the Caribbean spin-off. Duh!)

 

Oh yeah. Woodwinds won Monday night.

(Brass ended up winning the week, but that's irrelevant)

 

 

Anyways, after lunch we would have free time for an hour before breaking up into sectionals where we work on our show music and bond with our sections. After about two hours, the whole band comes together for ensemble rehersal.

Cara, being lovely and conducting the band during outdoor ensemble!

 

Ensemble time is always followed by a time of worship and devotions. For the last three years I've had the honor of leading the band in worship. Each day, a different officer or senior will write a "sealed order", a small devotional for the whole band to think about. We're given about ten minutes to read it over, think about it, and read our Bibles or pray.

Me and Nikki singing!

 

One tradition we have in our band is that we always sing the song "Seek Ye First" after a performance. It's our way of giving our show back to God. (We also sing it after awards ceremonies... coolest thing ever. But more on that later in the season!) One of my favorite My favorite part of band camp is always when we teach "Seek Ye First" to the new guys. We stand in the chapel, either holding hands or putting arms around shoulders, and we close our eyes and sing. I like to think that it's us just giving the season to God. Any wins are His.

 

Man, I'm gonna miss that time.

 

 

My favorite spot to sit for sealed orders is in the middle of this circular stone pathway they call the labrinyth. I have no idea why they call it that, but the center has been my spot for a few years. :)

 

From Sealed Orders, we go straight to dinner, and from dinner, to night fun on the field! Usually, we use this time to start learning our places for the show. We got two movements learned this year!

 

The best part of the day? Night activities!

 

It's the time where we get to wear normal clothes and sit in the AC. It's quite glorious.

 

Behold, a blurry picture of me and Nikki partaking in another Northside tradition:

 

The Trash Can Game

 (Referred to by the Staff as Can-Can)

 

In the Trash Can Game, you link arms with the two people on either side of you.

How do you win?

Don't touch the trash can.

Easy, right?

WRONG.

You're out if you let go of someone's hand, and sacrificing yourself so your neighbor will get out is against the rules.

You have to hold on to these people whilst getting slung around the room.

You win when you're the last one standing.

Also, you MUST wear sneakers (one kid a few years back bent back his little toe). Also, members of the colorguard are forbidden from playing (a guard girl broke her arm my freshman year and was out all season).

 

Needless to say, it's fun. :)

 

Jen, me and Kirsten at some night activity!!

 

 

Well, there's the outline of a basic day!

 

I'll be back soon with the special events we have...

 

Until then, dear readers!!

 

 

                                                                           -SarahCate:D

 

 

 

 

 

Question of the Post: Summer reading. Yay or Nay?

 

 

COLLECTIVE!!!! (and some other stuff)

 

 

Hi there!

 

Sorry about my absence the past few weeks. I've been meaning to blog, but I've been so busy!!

 

 

Last year, my beloved friends and I didn't have time to celebrate each others birthdays. We've got Jen's September birthday (right in the middle of marching band craziness), Kirsten's December birthday (Christmas prep and such), Nikki's January birthday (during All-State and All-County, and my birthday in April (during musical season). So we don't have time to celebrate our birthdays.

 

Enter the concept of Collective.

 

Collective is this grand concept we came up with where we all get together over the summer and have a giant collective birthday party!! We all get each other gifts and eat pizza and watch movies and it's wonderful.

 

 

 

Here we see Nikki, Kirsten, and Jen being their beautiful selves.

Yep. I have good taste in best friends :)

 

 

We had an Avengers movie marathon. I found this really cute idea on Pinterest and tried to

 recreate it!

 

 

Here's the original from Pinterest:

And here's mine!!

 (Personally, I think mine is awesomer!)

 

Behold, here's a lovely shot I took of Nikki when she fell asleep during The Avengers.

(She doesn't know I took this so shhhhhhhh)

The Sunday after Collective, the Parents and I took a trip to the Magic Kingdom!

We found a brass band!

We also encountered some lovely rainstorms.

It's Florida. It's summer.

I expected nothing less.

 

OH and here's a picture of how Kirsten wrapped this giant awesome poster she gave me. So you know, it's a wonderful subtle reference to Olan Rogers' video Ghost In The Stalls.

And this is why we're best friends. Packaging references to some of our favorite videos :)

 

I was home all by my lonesome the other day, and there's not much in the fridge right now.
However, we did have a head of iceberg lettucs and some frozen teryaki chickens, so I made lettuce teryaki wraps. They were amaaaazing!

And all I had to do was use the microwave. :)

 

Ah, but my craziness never stops!!
I got to go hang with my dearly graduated Emily the other night! I took my guitar and she has a piano at her house, so we sang lovely duets from Phantom of the Opera and Les Mis!
Oh and we made cupcakes :)

 

We've decided that we're going to open a bakery and we shall call it "Music Ed Majors Baking Things" (it's a working title).

On a totally random note, did you know that Starbucks has a bunch of "secret" drinks?
I've heard of the Starbucks secret menu, but I've never tried anything on it before.
However, Kirsten has been raving about the cotton candy frappucino for months. I was at Starbucks yesterday and decided to give it a try.

It's not a favorite (I love my caramel frap too much!), but I definitely recommend trying it! Order a Vanilla Bean Frapp with one pump of raspberry in it. (Kirsten says to get it without whip.)

 

After enjoying my Starbucks deliciousness, I got to go see Emily leading a bunch of small children in a musical! She's been assisting with their musical camp and was excited to be the student director!

You did great, Ems!!

I have to get back to packing, since I LEAVE FOR BAND CAMP TOMORROW!!!

I'm excited but sad, as this is my last band camp. :(

 

BUT I'm thrilled to see our show start to come together! It's going to be awesome!!

 

So, see you all again in a week!!!

 

                                                          -SarahCate:D

 

 

Question of the Post: If you were to open a bakery with a friend, what would you call it and why?

 

 

Adventuring!!

Well Happy Thursday to you all!!
I hope you're all having a lovely week this week. Mine's been pretty fabulous.

My week started with a Sunday Funday trip downtown with Kirsten. We had no goals, other than hanging out and making mischief. We were successful in both ventures. As it was Sunday, however, most local stores were closed. :( But Party City wasn't, so we found some awesome Star Wars masks...

 

When we were walking back from one of the stores to Kirsten's car, we found a duck. He was cute, and he started quacking at us. We, of course, had to quack back!!

 

Monday found me slightly sunburnt from walking around in the blazing sun the previous day, but Mom and I decided to head up to the northern part of the county. Our main goal here was to go take some cool pictures with my guitar (I'll post about those later), but we also got some shopping done :)

 

The wonderful sponge docks at Tarpon Springs!

 

For lunch, our only option was the wonderful Skyline Chili! It's Cincinatti style chili, and it is amazing.

 

 

And they put a TON of cheese on it, however you order it! I got the Four-Way, which is spaghetti, chili, cheese, and onions. How good is it?

Good enough that Dad made up bring him some.

 

After lunch, Mom and I stopped by Guitar Center, since it was in the area. I entered the danger zone for me: the Martin and Taylor acoustic room.

 

Yep. I found a beautiful Taylor acoustic for $1,700. It's fun to play expensive guitars. :)

 

Tuesday was a day off for me, but yesterday it started back up.

 

With a visit to the doctor's office.

 

Wahoo. This is so much fun.

Thrilled to be here.

And EVIDENTLY it was time for me to get a shot.

Yeah, my arm kinda hurts right now.

But it's okay, I'm managing.

The final awesomeness of my day yesterday was recording. It had been six weeks since I'd last done anything with Tim, so this time we tracked the cello and percussion.



                                                          Meet my cello and drumset.

Yeeeeeah MIDI tracks!!

 

Are we done with my first song yet? Oh no.

Are we closer to being done? Oh yes.

 

It's just so exciting!!!!

 

 

I hope to see you all again soon! Until then, continue being wonderful!!

 

                    -SarahCate:D

 

 

 

Question of the Post: Guitar players, here's a question for you: Taylor or Martin?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Girls State!

I have now run a government.

Wait, what?
Oh yes.
Through the wonderful program known as Girls State, I got to go to Tallahassee with 299 other girls my age. Once there, we established and ran our own government.

I was assigned to the great city (read: hallway) of Ocoee on the fifth floor. Now this wouldn't be awful, but we weren't allowed to use the elevators. So we found ourselves climbing up and down five flights of stairs every morning, every night, and any time we wanted to go get a Diet Coke.

It truly was the hard-knock life for us. But at least we weren't on the seventh floor. Poor dears.

Meet my roommates, Mincy and Melissa. These two are crazy- crazy awesome, that is! They also decided that it would be a fun idea to steal my camera at lunch one day and take selfies. Well, here ya go girls!

Aren't we fabulous?

 

And the wonderful Ocoee flag!

 

One of the requirements for Girls State was that we had to write a bill that our Senate and House of Representatives would later vote on. I wrote mine on human trafficking, and while it didn't pass, awareness was raised! I got many of the girls to represent the End It movement with red Xs.

 

Another wonderful picture of the coolest roommates ever!

 

BEHOLD, the Supreme Court of Florida.

 

Because I was part of the judicial branch (I was a Supreme Court Marshal :D) I got to run around with 21 other lovely ladies!

 

And by running around... I mean sitting around.

Perks of the judicial branch: lots of down time!

(at least in Girls State terms!)

 

 

We got to tour the old Capitol building and I got a picture in the restored House of Representatives!

 

Me and Melissa taking late night selfies :)

 

Saloni, myself, and Alexis!

Mincy, Melissa and myself on the last night.

 

 

 

Ocoee Nationalists! Go Nats!!

When we got our room assignments, we also got assigned to a political party: Federalists or Nationalists. I was a Nationalist, and we were awesome. That is all.

 

 

 

To be honest, I didn't expect much out of Girls State. I'm a musician, not a politician (there's a reason for that), so I really wasn't expecting to have a great time.

Wow. I was wrong.

By the end of the week, I had gotten to meet dozens of the smartest girls in Florida. And I'm now deeply missing 25 of them. We're all crazy, we're all unique, we're all amazing,

and we're all going places.

 

 

Who knows? One of these girls may be the next president of the United States.

 

I'd say it's highly possible.

 

So that was the short version of my experience at Girls State. Now, it you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go miss my girls some more.

 

Shoutout to Ocoee, the best group of girls in the state!

 

             - SarahCate:D

 

 

Question of the Post: Got any Girls Staters out there???