Day 44

June 7th

Today we went for a "run" again. I really didn't mind this time because I was thinking of the full week we have ahead of us. To prevent myself from being angered by the Oatmeal, I went with the yogurt and cereal choice this morning :P. Really the whole day was quite pleasant. The weather was great during inspection and while we were on the parade square all day. We started wearing our bears during drill today. I really don't mind the way mine feels but apparently it is too small. It should be sitting lower on my head. The best part about today was that we did the full guard mount 3 times with 2 bands only. This way one band got to sit out and watch each time. I thought the wheels looked the coolest! Also, it was nice to hear the ensemble from the front rather than the inside. I'm feeling a bit better about my drill now. We've done it all so many times that I know exactly what is coming and I make less mistakes. Today the only drill mistake I made was anticipating the halt when we were in mark time. oops. I also feel like my dressing is getting better and I can play a bit more. So the plan for tonight was to go over all the marches we have done so far just to make sure I am playing them correctly followed by some boot shining and the usual gym/swim. Ha! that was the plan lol. I started practicing and did some scales etc but I was falling asleep. So I set my alarm for a 30min nap thinking I would feel better after that. Well I slept through my alarm and didn't wake up till 9pm when Amy was calling me to go swimming! So much for practicing and going to the gym. Swimming was really good. I did 50 lengths of the pool alternating between breast stroke and 3-stroke front crawl. I was really pleased that I could to the 3-stroke the whole time. Now I will have to build myself up to doing more than 4 lengths in a row. Maybe I will do 3-5 next time!

Day 43

June 6
Today I actually got up for breakfast even though I have food in my room. Baaaad choice. I decided to give the “hot cereal” one last chance and took 2 bowls; one to eat with brown sugar and one to eat with cinnamon and raisins. FAIL! Gah, I need to just make my own oatmeal and then go down for fruit and eggs because the stuff they serve isn’t even oatmeal. The cereal pieces look like little round turds floating in too much hot water! This is not Oatmeal! Ok, I’m good for now. I did go to church again this morning and it was great. I wish I had my bible here so I could re-read the scripture for the day. After the service there was some coffee, tea and juice for whatever reason…I must have missed something…whatever, it was a great opportunity for me to talk to some of the members of the congregation. There was a really nice lady who introduced me to a few more ppl and then I got talking with a girl my age that had only been in Ottawa for a year. She gave me a few tips on what to see in the city and such. For example; apparently all museums are free on Thursdays! I will have to look into that because that could be really handy when Dustin comes! Oh, and after that I played the piano and there was a little girl who wanted to play too. She was so cute and polite when I asked if she wanted to play! She played a sonatina that I recognized and then got off the bench. Sooo cute! The she was like “you can keep playing. I liked your song. It was beautiful.” My heart just melted when I heard that! So I said thanks and kept playing Mendelssohn. I made an epic raincoat from a large plastic bag because it was raining on the way home. I got back just I time for lunch. After lunch I practiced and chilled for a bit before going to the gym. Then I practiced more after supper and that was pretty much my day. The only thing I didn’t do was buy REAL Oatmeal!! Oh well, there’s always tomorrow.

Day 42

June 5th

Wow, I'm starting to feel like the days are just slipping away! I slept in and had breakfast in bed which was wonderful. I chatted with Dustin again (we seem to be making up time from last week lol).Then after a quick shower and more food I was off to Downtown with Stevenson and Bae. We picked up some free tickets to get an indoor tour of Parliament. There was a bit of a wait before the next tour so we went to the mall. I am getting frustrated with buying clothes, especially shirts. I find nice things that are a good color for me and then they are just too big. I found a super nice tube top at Dynamite but I was swimming in an XS! Like a bit of swimming in a tube top is nice, but this was baaad. Then other stores make the shirts fit in some places but waaay to big in others. I really don't want the world to know what color my bra of the day is! Oh well, welcome to my usual shopping frustrations. Then it was time to go for the tour. We were able to see everything that was open to the public. There is also a crazy amount of security that happens there. They have a set up at the beginning like an airport, and then there are security guards all over the interior. I took some pretty cool pictures and my favorite place was by far the Library. Soooo beautiful! After the tour the boys went back on the bus and I rollerbladed back to Campus. I stopped in a few stores along the way to look around of course. With all the stopping it was still less than an hour. Although I noticed that if I ever go towards downtown on rollerblades, it will be all up hill! When I finally got back, I missed supper by 5 mins. Oh well, I have plenty of good food in my room! I had salmon and an orange and PB+J, yummy! Oh and of course...tea :) After practicing a bit two other girls and I attempted to go for a run, but one of them was having pain in her lower leg. She was really upset by it too. I can understand the frustration, I felt really useless when I was having that pain in my left foot during BMQ. All I needed was insoles and then it was better! I wonder what she might need? After that I looked up the bus v.s. the walking route to church tomorrow and I think I will bus it there and then rollerblade back and see how long it takes. If it's a nice route then I might just rollerblade every Sunday!

Day 41

June 4th

Wow, laziest day ever! I slept in hard core and then went to the store to buy food. I am slowly understanding why people don't like the cafeteria food here. I did a bit of cleaning and practicing and more sleeping lol. Started getting ready for my QL3 and QL4 qualification by doing some scales. I got the music yesterday so I think I will start looking at that tomorrow. Even though it looks really easy, I don't want to make a fool of myself. I really like the people here and I've found a good group of people that I can be myself around. It's really a great feeling knowing that you don't have to be part of the drinking crowd to have a good time! I'm really not used to having this much time off in life and although I am enjoying the lazy days, I almost don't know what to do with myself anymore. Honestly I think my mind and body just needed this day off. I haven't had this in years and there may be a few more days like this in the summer! It's wierd to only be respondible for yourself and I'm realizing how much of my time at home is spent for others. SHMC Blaeserchor, I miss you!

Day 40

June 3rd

Today we had our first PT ruck march and I survived! I think it was bacause we did it in PT gear and not in combats. I feel confident enought to start adding more weight to my ruck sack now. We spent the morning getting fitted for our ceremonials again. Mine needed some alterations with the buttons and I asked that the back be opened up so I can breath. It looks pretty cool when it's all put together, and then the gave me a red aporin. The low brass has to wear this so that the instrument doesn't rub on the tunic and make marks. I really don't mind the idea because it will also prevent me from getting caught on all the buttons in front! In the afternoon it was raining, so we spent some time doing march drill without our instruments. I found this very helpful. Also the clarinets learned their rain drill = put a plastic bag over it and keep marching! After our final rehearsal of the day we got our summer schedule! It's looking pretty good. Now we are on leave for a long weekend! I went for a walk with Stacy who just arrived yesterday and then I was off to the gym. The trombones were having a drinking party downtown so I was surprised to see other ppl from the band at the gym. I really enjoy going and I think I will have to get a gym pass when I get back home. I spent the evening talking to Dustin who had a little breather from all his midterm school work. One of my pod mates (4 of us share a bathroom) came in to chat with me last night. She said I was ajusting well to the lifestyle and the freedom. She also gave me some tips on how to stay on everyone's good side lol. That was some nice girl talk and she recognized that I was a Christian. Pretty cool! Her and another girl actually do bible studies about every second day here and she invited me to join. I think I will take her up on that offer and I will be inviting Stevenson and Donegan to join!

Day 39

June 2nd

(This picture is from the civilization museum)
We didn't have to get up for PT this morning...yay!! I actually found that I was just as tired in the morning even with the extra hour of sleep. We had our first room inspection and even though it was really easy I'm still not a fan. I could find everything before and now I am missing things! B band had a really easy morning because we didn't even have to go out on the parade square for the first period. The rest of the day was: morning sectional, afternoon parade square and sectional. There are so many breaks in the day that this takes until 4pm to complete. We also got our bears back from cleaning and grooming today. Mine looks much better than before! When we were in our section meetings we learned how to put our ceremonial belts together. I had to stay longer with a bunch of the skinny ppl who had to put their belts together differently so they would fit. The rest of the evening was pretty slack. I skipped supper because it was at 4:30 and I was nowhere near hungry then. So I had some of my own food! Things are pretty routine right now and I rememeber being told that this is "drill week" or 2 weeks. I wonder when our days will be shorter?

Day 38

June 1st

Hello June! Our PT this morning was Ultimate frisbee!! I have not played that since high school and learned that I can catch anything, but I can't throw a frisbee to save my life. We had a presentation from the COs followed by sectionals for most of the morning. I have learned how to sit with my eyes closed in a semi-sleeping state while still paying enough attention to know what's going on. In sectionals we started playing the slow marches that we have to memorize. It's going really well especially since I'm the only new member in the tuba/euph section. So I just have to catch up on my own time and rehearsals go really well. After lunch we did some of those slow marches out on the parade square and practiced going from slow march to fast march. We also did wheels today! I feel much better about marching today than yesterday. I actually know what is coming when I see the signals. Now the trick is to see and hear them all the time! Some ppl suggested to me that I just do the drill and not worry so much about the playing for now. I will do that next time! After that we reviewed our slow marches again. Before our day ended we checked out our bears and gave them a quick brush through. I spent the evening preparing for tomorrows room inspection, practicing and going to the gym.