76 Guards in 24 Hours .... can you spell overdose?

This looks a lot like a guard show to me. I first learned about this by watching a movie called "Under the Tuscan Sun" and was fascinated enough by it to look it up on the internet. Flag Throwers - Check it out


Weekend Happenings ...

Friday Night … Del Oro Show
Woodcreek = 1st Place Novice Guard

Saturday Afternoon … Granada Show
Franklin = 2nd Place Novice Guard

I wish either of them were going to Championships … I wish they both were. I think they would have kicked some serious booty. Ah well! I’m happy they both ended their seasons on such a high note.

On Friday night my friend Robert (another guard-geek-judging-type) and I carpooled to Fresno where we judged 43 color guards in a 6 hour span with only a 15-minute break to sustain us. Whew! Circuit Highpoint -- I love the Fresno circuit because they pay you before the show so you can leave the moment you’ve handed your last sheet in. Circuit Low point – the food wasn’t ready when the judges arrived so we starved for a couple of hours until the break. At the end of the show, we were hanging around chatting and waiting for a recap and I got blindsided by an instructor whose guard I tanked. I didn’t mean to tank them. It wasn’t an oversight. It wasn’t even a mistake. I just liked the other five guards better. I’m expecting an “accountability email” sometime today. After the show we drove to Tracy since we both had a show to judge in Livermore the next day. Tracy was an approximate halfway point and good choice. I was dead-dog tired by the time we got there (at about 2 a.m.) and the MicroTel chain is my new favorite motel choice. You get a LOT more for a few extra bucks …. safety and lack-of-foot-traffic being the primo motivating factors behind spending those few extra dollars.

Saturday morning I headed out bright and early to attend a meeting for all the folks judging at the Livermore and Granada shows. We talked at length about the meaning of the sheet criteria over Starbucks coffee. I know it clarified some things for me and I think it gave us all our best opportunity yet to apply the criteria in a more consistent manner between judges. All of those present have a championship slot so I think what we accomplished at this meeting will carry us over the remainder of the season and has positioned us to be really successful … and I’m excited about the jumpstart that gives us going into the next season.

Judging the Livermore show took an eternity … it was brutal … and I think that’s because we had mostly jr high and novice guards there, OR because I’m really sick, OR because I had just judged 44 guards the night before???? Generally, I enjoy judging the novice guards … I really do …. I think it’s where we judges have the biggest opportunity to make the most positive impact. I sincerely feel that if groups don’t grow that, to some degree, the judging community is responsible (for who else is there to help develop the beginning instructors). I love watching the kids get better and better with each season. Even so, judging that day was akin to having a terminal illness and I couldn’t wait to just keel over and die. Get the shovel already! Pay me and let me outta’ here. Sigh. After we were done at Livermore the three of us on the panel all headed over to the show at Granada to get another chance to watch the Open guards. I’m so glad we went. Watching as a spectator with another trusted colleague gave me the chance to review the overall production value of each guard. I took some notes and mentally filed some visual impressions and I feel pretty confident about my observations going into championships …. which is a mere two weeks away.

After the show Saturday night four of the judges gathered at Applebee’s (where we probably should have paid rent since we were there so long they finally had to ask us to leave) to compare notes and talk shop. My true-blue friend Di convinced me that we should stay in a hotel that night instead of braving the long drive to Roseville in the wee hours of the morning. I’m so glad she’s a tenacious chick … it took her four tries to convince me but she finally did. Thanks girlfriend!

Sunday morning Di and I parted ways over muffins and cheese biscuits around 10 a.m. and it took me ALL day to get home … I stopped at Walmart for some much deserved retail therapy and a long overdue pedicure then took myself to Davis where I lingered all afternoon with my son on his front porch finally arriving home in Roseville around 5:00 p.m. just in time to go to the Benedict’s house for a birthday celebration …. mmmm barbecue and birthday cake. What a relaxing day.

Highlights ...
As the season winds down I find myself counting my dollars down too. My earnings will go back to normal after 4/1 and I want to be sure that I’ve hit as many big ticket items as I can. Even though I’ll still have some important things to cover, I’ve shaken off and stomped a mudhole in the ass of most of the monkeys that were on my back … so … I feel good … da-da da-da da-da dut <$1 to Joe>.