Our Leaves

Due to an unrefreshed tab and my tendency to spam the save button "just in case," plus the ease of discarding used paper notes, the second half of this post was lost. I will rebuild it in a crude way, but will kick myself the whole time.

          I woke up with a lurching sensation in my stomach that quickly devolved into pure nausea. I opted to take a sick day and recover; I've been burning the candle at both ends with this moving business. Later, I felt strong enough to go to the pep band's Student Activity Fair performance at Curry. I was the only trumpet present in an ensemble of about twenty people, and I really had to wail on it to get a decent sound out after a few songs. (This is the part where I admit to not playing music all summer.) Matt T was conducting and kindly deferred to me when I said I couldn't handle this or that song, and we got through several songs without major incident. Afterward, Shay blew me away by claiming she was down to chill/drink/party or whatever, and I felt like I was dreaming for a moment. She seems to have changed a lot in her time abroad, and this is a new avenue of friendship that I'm excited to explore.
          After the performance, I sat at the band table and talked to some more orchestra-oriented freshmen. Shannon obtained a fancy Snow Ball glass for me, but I declined to wait in the tremendous line for a tiny RSA smoothie. I did, however, wait in a relatively shorter one for a custom street sign. The idea is that freshmen would get such charming decorations as "Susie's Street" or "Dan Avenue" or "BIOHAZARD: Meredith and Lauren B's room! Do Not Enter!" I decided to do a hockey joke instead and went with "Parking For Kaner Only / All Others Will Be Towed Away". Initially, I was leaning toward "Parental Advisory: Sidney's Room. No Adults Allowed!" but decided that brevity was the soul of wit. I went home to drink a beer and read A Feast For Crows, which I don't remember finishing but somehow recall all of the plot twists once they happen. Alaric and Nathan eventually showed up with Sara, Elizabeth, Eli, and a couple of his friends from the University of Pittsburgh, but I was wiped by this point and retired early.