Well, I may not have updated this thing very often - but only for want of exciting activties not involved in simple collegiate survival. This weekend however was definitely an exception..... Started out normally enough for a drumline roadtrip - some what slow. Took us about 10 hrs to get to Penn State. Leaving at around 4:30 or 5 pm IN time. Definitely in the middle of nowhere!! There is one road in and nothing. Beautiful this time of year -during the day at least. Got our 6 cars set up and took a bit of a walk around the area and the stadium - claiming the The Pennsylvania State University sign and mildly desecrating the Joe Pa statue. Back to the cars to start tailgating and watch the sunrise. A few hours of napping cramped into cars, but staying warm at least, then up to begin tailgating in earnest. This is our ONE game to tailgate all season so we do it up right. Plenty of time for it on this trip since the game didnt kickoff till 4:30. Got to visit a good selection of Energy Mob types at Penn State too.
Our march to the stadium being good fans and ALL the way to the top! A surprisingly good view of the action for being so far above it. There we traded places with most of the people standing in the three rows behind us so that they could sit and we could stand the whole game. The only people who didn't move were a group that was standing along the wall anyway whose view we were not impeding. They changed their minds however after the first few plays and our first touchdown.... An usher was called up and in a very derogatory manner he told us all to sit or be kicked out. His claim that there were 'patrons' who had paid their $42 to sit - ignoring the fact that that was how much we paid as well. He even made comments about Purdue - definitely unprofessional. At any rate we all squeezed into too few seats since we had been courteous enough to move in the beginning. Two plays later Purdue got a first down and a few of us stood up to cheer. Moments after that a policeman arrived and forced two of our number to 'leave their seats or go to jail.' At least they weren't kicked out of the stadium - they were moved down to a lower level and let loose to find seats where they could. Hannah and Emily ended up sitting in the Penn state student section with our Energy mob friends - apparently the student section was not as bad as expected and the only bad comments were from those sitting pretty far away.
So anyway, a tense game. glad we pulled it off. An incredible atmosphere in Beaver Stadium. My car: Jon (snare), Amanda (his gf and a Tuba), Emily Essig (energy mob) and myself spent the night with Jess - a friend from this summer. Definitely more pleasant then driving straight back like almost everyone else did. Got up the next morning, headed out. Stopped in Altoona got breakfast and gas and hit the road. Only 10 miles after turning on the the I-70 turnpike the car starts acting possessed - locks turning on and off, speedometer jumping, surging engine. We pulled off right before the first tunnel at mile marker 123.6 and the car died. Thanks to moms AAA-plus card we got towed for free to the nearest town about 20 miles away. A sunday afternoon meant there would be no help that day so we checked into the Hampton Inn and enjoyed taking showers! Out to eat for dinner and a hilarious evening killing time in Somerset, PA....
The next day we took a taxi over to the dealership, carrying pillows, blankets, bookbags. As soon as we walked in they finally got the car inside and being looked at. A picnic lunch enjoying an absolutely gorgeous fall day and then just about 2 more hrs doing hw and attempting to memorize music. A new alternator and battery later we were on the road again! Awesome time on the trip home - left about 2:30 and got back to Lafayette at 9:15pm. Our team wins!! So now to attempt to get some work done with the few hrs left of my october break... sigh... New pictures up on the site as well
