Walking FAILS as a sport ...

and it's NOT fun, it's just a mode of tranportation ... man's orginal transportation at that.

Stu asked me if I wanted to go walking with him last night.

My reply = Hell no, I’d rather chew tinfoil.

I hate walking. It's not fun, it's work. Like walking 1.5 miles each way to a bus stop for 4 months and dreaming of driving every second of it. Walking is a big negative experience to me. You walk when you miss the school bus, you walk when your car breaks down, you walk when your friend decides to stay at the party later than your curfew, etc. I've always hated walking. Walking is too much like a punishment. My hatred of walking is why I spend so much time driving in circles in retail parking lots.

Yet I’m willing to spend my summer weekends running around aimlessly on a football field and getting nowhere.

Walking is a by product of golf just like it is in drum corps. I like to golf almost as much as I like to march. Golf = Hit the ball as far away from you as you can then walk up to it and hit it again as far away from you as you can. Lather, rinse, repeat for about 350 yards where the whole endeavor finally disintegrates into a 20 minute game of marbles using a really big marble and dropping it into a hole.

There are times I can’t explain myself. This is just one more of those.

Last night the California Cool Kids got together to "Chop" ... to review and solidify what we think we know in preparation for the next DVD's imminent arrival from the "Wonderful World". I remembered far more than I thought I did and am now not nearly as worried about having a great outcome at DCA as I once was. Now I'm looking forward to the cheering crowd and I'm finding that all my concerns evolve around whether or not we make finals. Then again, that happens around this time every year so no worries!

Highlights …

I’ve signed on to teach at Elk Grove High School this year. Band camp starts the week of August 13 and I’m excited because I haven’t worked on a field show in about 30 years!!! This should be fun!

I’ve been tapped by a friend to write the parade routine for Ygnacio Valley High. This is a band I’ve always liked on the street so I feel a real responsibility to get it right for them and I’m looking forward to meeting them.

I’ll be working a couple of rehearsals with Del Oro High School on their weapons basics. I guess they got tired of hearing me whine into my tape recorder about their technique and are giving me the opportunity to fix it. Hooray!

So I have a couple of remaining weeks of relative couch potatodom and then I’ll start really burning my candle at both ends again and I’m looking forward to the challenge.

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