My Experience With... Being in Marching Band

From Tone Deaf Comics.

This pretty much sums up the way I feel about band, in general, but especially marching band. I remember walking around my college after an open house to meet with the marching band director. Even though it was a small school, I still had trouble finding the building.

It didn't help that I was wandering around in platforms. By the way, if you do decide to walk around a campus, please wear comfortable shoes.

By the time I'd gotten to the right building, I was afraid I would've been too late. I walked around the building looking for her office. Finally, a professor saw me and asked if I needed help.

"Yeah... I'm looking for, uh.... [looks at paper in her hand] Ms. Johns?"

"Oh! She's getting married this afternoon!"

GREEEEEEEAAAAAAAAT. Not only was she not even going to be there that day, the name on my flyer was completely wrong!

Thankfully, I met up with her about a month later and tried out for the Drum Line in the band. I also learned that day not to try out for a marching band in platforms. By the way, if you do decide to try out for a marching band... ah, you get the idea. In either case, I was in, and I was playing the top bass drum of the band.

Now, I could learn how to play the drum in question, but what I couldn't do was carry it very well. For one thing, the carriers used to hold the bass drum we used were ergonomically HORRIBLE for the back.

This is (more or less) how our bass drum carriers were.

Again, not good for the back, or my then-very-petite

frame and strength capability.

Now this is (more or less) the carriers we used

my second year there. Notice the support 

on the bottom, which takes some

(again some) of the weight off.

I wish we had these. They look cool AND easy on the back!

In any case here's a breakdown of my years and what I've played:

Year 1: Cymbals

Year 2: Bass Drum 1 (my parents weren't to happy about that, but I did what I had to do)

Year 3: Cymbals (Unofficial Official Subsection Leader / 1st Cymbal), Orchestral Pit (Shekere)

Year 4: Cymbals

Being a part of a marching band in any respect is amazing. For one thing, learning music is essential to development. For another thing, if you don't play any instrument, there's always auxiliary positions (colorguard, pom squad, baton twirlers, etc.) that you can be a part of, not to mention volunteering to help in any way possible.

There are not enough words to express my term here, and since a picture is worth a thousand words, here's about a quadrillion of them;

And yes, I did get the inevitable questions/comments:

• "This one time... at band camp..."
• "You're in band? Is it like American Pie?" [Uh, no. I've never even seen the movie and I know that's not even close.]
• "You're in drumline? Is that like the movie Drumline?" [NOOOOOO!!!!]

#bandgeekforlife

💂👟👟🎺🎷🎹🎵

What's your favorite instrument?

My Experience With... Finding Dory

Wow. This one's REALLY late. Ugh... I need to remind myself to write even in spite of... life.

Life's not bad, just busy.

So, anyway, in my last post, I wrote about Finding Nemo. Now... FINDING DORY!!!

Looooouuuuuueerrrrrrve this poster!

Like, if I were the type to post posters

all over my bedroom wall (which

is something I haven't done since

I was a teen), I'd do everything 

to try to set this one up.

I remember hearing about this particular Pixar sequel and thinking.... Oh, no...

Here's my reasoning:

1) Sequels in general get progressively worse. Except Pixar sequels, but...

2) Even Pixar was losing its touch in the movie industry. When Cars 2 came out, I thought it was the beginning of the end of cinema as we knew it.

Then I saw a post that Josh Taylor (YouTuber) made -- which actually, now that I think of it, I don't think I watched because I hadn't even seen the movie yet), and thought Huh. Pixar seems to have gotten its circuits back together.

You know, because... circuits... the lamp...

The logo.... Yeah, I'm not funny.

I went with a friend named Sarah, this time with her younger brother in tow. One of many sibs, btw. Think: Duggar. I hope she doesn't kill me for that comment if/when she reads this.

The movie starts off with this. Brace yourselves, ye that have yet seen...

No. No, no no no no no no, I can't... I just can't right now.

I've never done a "top cutest things" list, but I'm certain

this would be pretty high up on the list.

Basic reaction:

Okay, YOU try putting it into words, smartie!

Man, I love and miss that series.

Dory is a young fish who struggles with Short-Term Memory Loss. How in the world she manages to remember that is unexplained. She lives with her loving parents... somewhere... and they help her grow up. But one day, she's inexplicably taken away by a strong force. She then looks for her parents everywhere, to no avail, until she runs swims into Marlin.

Cut to one year later. Dory, in some fashion, has become part of the family with Marlin and Nemo. She still dreams about her family and former life, though.

The rest of the story sorta becomes a puzzle adventure of sorts. As far as plot and characters go, they're pretty similar to Finding Nemo. The adventure takes the trio to the West Coast of the United States, where Dory eventually finds her memory, herself, her parents, old friends, and even helps to bring out the best of characters she meets.

Now, I'm running on a deadline here, plus, I don't feel like putting in all of the spoilers. I would highly recommend this movie, though. It was really cute and definitely put some resolution to that ONE LINE Dory said early on in Finding Nemo. Is it better than the original? Meh... I wouldn't particularly say that. It is a pretty good movie, and it's definitely one of Pixar's better sequels.

What's your favorite character made into baby form?

My Experience With... Suave® Professionals Flexible Control Curl Mousse

I am major-league into my curls, and yes, I do like definition. I think my Mother and I were on a product hunt when we came across this. It looked promising, and it looked like it had a decent hold, so we decided to try it. I'd read recently (I think on naturallycurly.com) that it's useful for curly girls.

Upon first using it, I had no idea what to do with it. Turns out, you shake, hold it upside-down, and pull the trigger. Once I heard what sounded like Cool Whip shooting out, followed by a snap, crackle and pop, I realized that I had encountered mousse before. It was at Bath and Body Works YEARS ago, and it was in some kind of fragrance that I wanted to smell. I saw that it said “mousse,” but I thought it was a term for a fancy lotion. Hey, gimme a break, I'd never used that stuff before! So I squirted some out, and started applying it to my hand/arm... as soon as I saw fizzing, I realized something was not right. I read the package again, and found out that it was indeed for hair. I dismissed it as a straight-haired thing, washed the stuff off my arm, and moved on.

Anyway, I applied it to my hair and... I dunno what happened, exactly. I hadn't even touched the stuff until weeks later. I was kinda desperate, and had my hair wet. I applied it, and... WOAH. It was almost like magic! Unfortunately, about 10 minutes later, that “carriage” turned back into a “pumpkin.” Boy, was my hair dry and stiff! I left it alone again.

I read the ingredients and found there was some kind of alcohol compound in it. I don't necessarily write off alcohols as horrible ingredients, especially since some are really fats or oils. No, for real. I think Cetyl or Cetereal Alcohol is an oil.... weird. In any case, I figured that next time, I would use it as a styling agent, rather than a moisturizing and styling agent.

Weeks later, I tried once again, this time as a styling agent over my favorite lotion. Yes, it still dried out, but my hair still looked touchable! To this day, I still use it as just a styling agent. Here's my formula:

   

Rinse + Gold + Mousse = Fabulous-looking curls!

It works like a charm!

What's your formula to fabulous-looking hair?

My Experience With... Infusium 23 (Old School)

Last time I wrote to you, I wrote about Wen® Hair Care Sweet Almond Mint, and how it pretty much jacked up my tresses.

Sorry, just speaking the truth here. My edges are still in slow-growth mode.

Anyway, my mother and I tried so many things in desperation to revive my hair. Finally, my mother recalled Infusium 23, a product she used in the 80s.

Yes. This exact bottle.

At first I was leery because it LOOKED like it was from 1983. Never judge a book by it's cover. Words cannot express how my hair felt after ONE use!

Because of the damage, I had to get my hair texturized and set STRAIGHT. Don't get me wrong, I do wear my hair straight from time to time for a change of pace, and I don't mind how it looks straight (even though I prefer it curly), but...

I.

HATE.

THE HARSH CHEMICALS.

Plus, I can't stand having it permed straight, because a) when the new growth comes in, it comes in curly, which means b) I gotta perm it back curly, anyway.

I know what some of you are thinking. Suck it up. It's part of being a Black woman. Yeah, well so is a flat iron. And it gives temporary styling results. And it STILL loosens my hair a bit! Also, have you been living under a rock? There are natural alternatives to get similar, if not identical hairstyles.

Anyways, rant aside, Infusium 23 definitely helped with heat protection, and it works great after a good moisturizing conditioner.

The Infusium 23 Bottle is long gone, but one of those old school bottles will last you MONTHS. Just make sure it's not rank or rachet, and you're set to style.

But that's just on my hair. How about you? What type of hair do you have? Have you used Old-School (OS) or New-School (NS) Infusium 23?

My Experience With... Wen® Sweet Almond Hair Care

My first product review!!!!

Everybody's seen the commercials, right? The women who come in with straw for hair and leave with excessively shakeable tresses? And for those with more ethnic cabello, this stuff is for us, too!

Yeah, I was EXTREMELY skeptic at first, especially since 99.99% of those models had straight / wavy hair. My hair... NOT SO MUCH. Then I saw that one black-ish model with that blonde Russian (I'm assuming.....????) model, to show that it works with all kinds of hair. It showed (obviously) good results. I was skeptical. The black-ish mix of the model was not the black-ish mix of myself. And I have some wonky hair.

Some long time later, I heard that a galpal of mine from out of town had some extra from a gift from family. I figured I'd try it the next time I visited her. I was starting to get excited... her hair was sorta like mine, and she loved it!

What really sealed it for me was when I saw this woman on one of their more recent commercials...

 When I saw her, I thought, Hokey flipping smoke! Holly Robinson Peete uses this stuff???!!!!

That did it. She's been natural for, like, EVER, and I'm trying (repeatedly) to go natural. I figured this would be my ticket through my transitioning.

Finally, I visited my friend, and yes, I tried it. I loved the tingle it had on my scalp, and how soft my hair felt. I even got it flat-ironed. Then trouble hit when I got back home. My hair started coming out like CRAZY. I thank God that I didn't go bald! If I wanted to go bald, that would not have been the way I would've done it.

To give you an idea of what went on, here's a video I saw. Mind you her hair is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from mine, and we had about the same result.

So, yeah... not only was that a bust, but I had MAJOR damage to my hair and scalp, from most of which I have recovered. Different people have different hair, but I think that it is overall too expensive a gamble to have gorgeous hair. Sorry Chaz Dean, I know you had good intentions, but the next time I put Wen® anything into my hair, you probably will need to put it in yourself. ^_^

My Experience with... Blogging.

Alright, it's my first blog post, and it's my intro... that's at least half a year late. I will put some reviews up soon after this post, but basically, it is a review blog / what-I-have-learned-from-life blog. I dunno, I'm moving this along as I go.

And I apologize for not having "Inside the Mind of an Individual" up. I've been really busy and haven't carved out the time to re-learn animation. How do the Brothers' Chaps still do it?!

Ah, well.

Peace.