September 18th, was test day! We started with ceremonial conducting. Pre-music (I picked Men of Ohio), Honors, National Anthem, and the Army Song. I scored a 99.18%! Not bad for having to conduct right handed. Then we went outside for our mace exam, and I didn’t completely screw it up :-D I even almost rocked the stutter step! I ended up with a 95.5%. My SGL wrote that I have “lots of potential to be a DM in the future!” After all the testing, we worked on our MPTs. I got a bit pissy, so I went running after we got out. That evening, we invited everyone to Jimmy’s for “team building.”
September 19th, I got up way earlier than I wanted. I met with a group from my class and we all went to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg. It ended up being a good sized group – myself, Tim, Streem, Walker, Wells, Stewart, Braught and Fournier. I also met up with my ROTC Matt who joined us at Busch Gardens. Busch Gardens is a bit like a tame Cedar Point. We, of course, jumped on the roller coasters immediately. The best roller coaster was the Gryphon, by far. It was almost Cedar Point worthy. Fournier definitely puked after we got off it. We had lunch in Germany and watched their version of an MPT. I nearly got puked on by Stewart after a spinny 4-D ride. We got to see wolves and bald eagles at the park. And I apparently can not eat an ice cream cone and walk at the same time. Much pointing and laughing ensued. After we left Busch Gardens we went up to a historical site, but we didn’t have time to actually go and see anything. It was a long, but incredibly fun day!
September 20th, we started PRT at 0600. I pulled a muscle or something in my leg which was fun for when we played ultimate Frisbee. Our classes in the morning consisted of learning about Finale (I have to get the 2010 version… much awesomeness!) and Leadership. During our MPT rehearsal, the high brass of the school overheard us and threw a shit fit about us playing the Army song to the bass line of Kashmir. Apparently the Army song is sacred or something. We were banned from playing any variations of the Army Song. We became Wood, Wind and Fire Censored. I got pissy about this since I then had to completely re-write music for the group. Our afternoon class was sound reinforcement principles – basically, how to put together a simple sound system and how to run a simple analog board. That evening, my MPT had a run through of our music and then our whole class at a dry run-through without instruments.
September 21st, we had PRT – cardio this time. We had circuit training. I ran with Tim the entire time. We did Finale again in the morning and sound reinforcement principles in the evening. For lunch, Streem, Glass and I went to have Sushi! It was amazing sushi!!! Around 5pm, we got our “prepare in a limited amount of time” music. Some of it was ridiculously hard and way outside of my range. After we got done with the duty day, I practiced bassoon and t-sax for 1.5 hours and then went to dinner at Chipotle. My comfort food. Then I was back for more practicing. Some random kid knocked on my door while I was practicing. It really bothers me when people bug me when I’m practicing. Plus, this kid was obviously an AIT student and my ID in the door definitely says SSG. I finished up around 2145 and then went back to my room to stress all night.
September 22nd, I got up early and had breakfast before going to practice. I was super nervous :-/ My audition was at 910. I didn’t do as well on my audition as I would have liked. I ended up with a 27 ( I need a 24 as a SSG, but I was hoping for a 30). A lot of the people in my class were disappointed with their auditions. Now that I have done the audition once, I feel I know what I need to do in order to get a 30 the next time. I then had the rest of the morning off until our formation at 1250. Then we turned in our Finale finals (I got a 100%). Then we waited around for our sound reinforcement exam. I buddied up with Glass. We definitely played “When I Think About You I Touch Myself.” Our SGl said that it explained so much about me. I had dinner with Tim at the bowling alley and then went to our dress rehearsal. I managed to lose my ID tags (which I eventually found but after much stress and ridicule from the SGLs) The dress rehearsal went pretty late, though afterwards Streem, Walker and I ran out to get drugs for Wiggins and to get some late night taco bell.
September 23rd, I took the APFT in the morning. The APFT was optional, but as my mom says, nothing is truly optional and Tim, my voice of reason, said I needed to take it. Again, it wasn’t the best APFT I’ve done. I only ended up with a 236. Then, it was time for OUR RECITAL!!! Honestly, the recital went a lot better than I thought it would. I had a lot of fun and I will post the video recording of it as soon as I can! We had subway for lunch and then we did the video recording for Garven’s warrant packet. Then there was lots of counseling and paperwork. I ended up on the Commandant’s List (wahoo!) Someone from my class also nominated me for the leadership award and wrote some amazing stuff about me J My SGL also wrote nice things about me for my leadership eval (luckily, he obviously didn’t notice how many times I screwed up while I was the Class Leader!) After we got out, some of the boys and I went out to Smokey Bones for dinner before we met up with the rest of the class at Jimmy’s for “team building.”
September 24th, was graduation day! We started with a dress rehearsal and then actual graduation was at 10am. We tried really hard to be serious. Truly, we did. But between Stewart and Block not being able to walk in front, we all broke into giggles. I was given a coin by the Commandant which is pretty cool!
After graduation, it was hugs goodbye and then the 338thers went to lunch at Fudruckers. I had the Bison burger. Then I got dropped off at the airport. Security was a bitch. They had such a huge issue with my bassoon. Through security I ran into Milbert and we people watched for a bit. My flight leaving Norfolk was late leaving. Luckily my connection in Charlotte was directly across the hallway. Then I nearly missed my connection in Phoenix. I finally made it back to Reno around 10pm (1am, Eastern time) It was a bit depressing that nearly everyone else had someone to meet them at the airport and I had to hoof it to my car myself. It was a really long drive back to Y-town.
September 25th, I rolled out of bed early to go pick up Jake from the kennel. I lazed about a bit and then drove to Fallon to visit the Walmart to stock up on supplies. Since I have no TV or Internet, I rocked out the dvds all night.
September 26th, I still have no Internet or TV. Long day. Big accomplishment of the day: running 6 miles to nowhere.
September 27th, I still rocking the by myself bit. Tomorrow I start my new job. I am really nervous and I hope that I do a good job :-/
September 28th, was my first day of work. And it is a really cool job J As it is a small library so I am learning how to do everything. There are a lot of different little things to learn, but I’m slowly getting up to speed. After work, I got a phone call from the commander of the 191st Army Band in CA. He spent 30 minutes trying to sell me on his unit. I felt like saying “you don’t need to sell your unit… I just want someone to take me!” Anyway, they have drill this coming weekend…. So I guess I’m jumping in feet first!
September 29th, was my second day of work! I went on rounds with Mary-Jane which consists of taking all the transfer books to the other branch libraries in Lyon County. Y-town to Silver Springs, to Dayton to Fernley, back to Silver Springs and finally back to Y-town. It was fun going to meet everybody else who works for the county as well as unloading on and off the book truck. Yes, we have a book truck. That I have to back up… so far, no accidents! That takes about the whole morning, so when we got back, I took my lunch and then back to work.
September 30th, I worked at the Fernley branch library. It is part of my cross-training. We started with a staff meeting and then got thrown into work. It was a lot of fun; the people in Fernley are hysterical including a librarian who goes to Burning Man every year and trying to start a library at Burning Man next year. I felt sort of special; they wanted to keep me! And I got to have sushi for lunch! :-D
October 1st, I got to open the library all by myself. Well, I was there by myself for 30 minutes. It was a fairly normal day until after work I got in my car and drove 5 hours to Dublin, CA. It was a looooong drive, but I pulled into Camp Parks around 11:30 p.m. I had to ask the gate guard where the barracks are and finally got to a restless “I’m freaked out” sleep.
October 2nd, I got up early since the 191st was having an APFT. Luckily, I ran into some members of the band in the bathroom and they let me follow them to the band hall. Also luckily, I didn’t have to take the APFT since that would have made it APFT no. 3 in less than a month. Instead, I got to help with height and weight (got to be up close and personal with new people) and then grade some of the run. The rest of the day was actually pretty cool. I was really impressed with the 191st and they seemed soooo excited to have me J More feeling really wanted! After the business day, I hung around for a bit (fed peanut butter crackers to a stray cat) before one of the girls took pity on me and took me out to dinner. We had some really amazing sushi and some good conversations. I was in bed by 8:40 because I was so tired.
October 3rd, I woke up early again to help out with the next day’s APFT. The whole day with the 191st was, again, a lot of fun. I tried my hardest to fit in and be helpful. Like my library, this unit has basically told me that anything I want to do is to run with it and they will support me. Which is fantastic! After the army day, I stopped by David Pelletier’s and we got dinner at Rubio’s (AWESOME!) Then I started driving home… I made it about 2 hours and got really tired so I stopped in a hotel parking lot and took an hour nap before I started going again. Then I got a flat tire. I got a bit hysterical but I called my mom and called AAA and a nice guy named Gary came and put my spare on. The bad news – there was no way my car was going to make it over the mountains on the spare. So, I cried, Gary gave me a hug and told me a place to get new tires. Gary actually called me again to offer my a hotel room, but I could accept it. Instead, I slept in my car in front of the tire place. Luckily I had a blanket in the car. Long, cold night…
October 4th, the tire place opened at 7am and I had new tires and was on the road by 8am. And finally made it home by 11am. The nice AAA guy texted me to make sure I made it home ok and we chatted for a bit. The rest of the day was rather uneventful except that I got TV!!
October 5th, I was back to work from 7am to 6pm. My boss was funny because she was happy I made it back!
October 6th, was another day of work. Today I got to help Renee with story time so I got to all the moms. I told Renee that I had done early childhood music and she is totally psyched that I could implement it into story time.
October 7th, I got to run rounds mostly by myself with my shotgun along for the ride. And I only made one wrong turn. After work, I got to go to a Tupperware party (I was invited by one of the story time moms) It was a lot of fun meeting everyone.
October 8th, I started work in Y-town. We had a staff meeting and my boss brought donuts… I twas incredibly hard to focus on important stuff when there are donuts right in front of you! In the afternoon, I worked at the Dayton branch library. I got to decorate the library for Halloween and close all by myself.
October 9th, I slept in and then ran 5 miles. Then I got to watch MSU WIN!! Fantastic game! J After the game I went to the music department’s big fundraiser: Oktoberfest! There was good German food as well as German beer. I got to meet the band director and his wife (a bassoonist!)
October 10th, I lazed around most of the day, but I also made the trek up to Walmart (and of course had to stop for sushi for lunch) Going to Walmart is kinda a big deal around here.
October 11th, I ran 6 miles and then got internet!!! Afterwards I went to the DMV and applied for my new Nevada drivers license. At 6pm, I started my gym stuff.
October 12th, today I was back to work. I woke p with my arms incredibly sore from the gym. I helped organize our old microfilms today and compile of list of what all we have available. I was amazed how many old newspapers from the late 1800s – early 1900s that lasted anywhere from a couple months to a couple years. It would be a fun history project.
