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Friday, November 25, 2005
Ok everyone.. i'm sorry it took so long, but here we go.. For those that do not know, i am marching my second season at Northern Lights.. I have gotten some requests from some of my dear friends to start this up again... so here we go!!!!!
Well, since it's over a month into the season, i guess i should speed everyone up.
Arriving in the Portland area went easily as my parents and i drove down together. The shocker however..... i didn't have a place of my own to live=( All we had was a single 2 bedroom apartment for 10 people until other apartments were ready. It was probably the worst experience of my life.. not being able to have my own space, not being able to get settled in.. This probably lasted over 2 weeks.. Luckily, i now have an apartment and have been living here! everything is good.
Rehersals have been good this year! knowing full well what to expect from hoss and the other instructors. i can't believe i am a vet this year! it's a strange concept to grasp. Man training was a lot easier this year but the dreaded consecutives excercise was kicking my ass still this year(spins and pushups.. equates to 1000 spins and 100 pushups)..
We have not started staging yet, but we have learnt some coreography on sabre, rifle as well as some dance work. Oh yes, some good news if some of you haven't heard already... Scott Chandler is on staff for NL this year.. For those that don't know scott.. he is the Program coordinator and in charge of the colorguard for the Concord Blue Devils. As well, he is the caption head for the 8 time Champs James Logan High school. He will have a lot of input into the show this year to take us to the next level.. he will come as often as he can but i don't think's going to be every week. Anyways, that's all for now.. I have rehersal this weekend so i hope we will start staging this week.. it will be a very different show this yera for sure.. those that are coming down to watch will be shocked!!!! it's not a movie soundtrack!=) lol take care everyone!!
Posted at 03:03 pm by gingerbeep
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Tuesday, April 05, 2005
After a long intense weekend and the longest day possible on saturday (12-6 rehersal) then we went to circuit champs till 11-12ish we were beat.. but our show was only exhibition.. we just wanted to do more performances before dayton...
good news was kathryn was able to make my performance.. made my day!=) i hope you liked it kathryn!!! it was a really tired run for us all but the crowd loved it(not that there are many fans/guards in the northwest anyways!! hee hee)
Posted at 10:52 am by gingerbeep
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Sunday, March 27, 2005
Hey all, it's been awhile as usual.. it's so hard for me to keep up.. just so much rehersal and lack of sleep time.. but here i am updating it once again.
vegas weekend was a great time.. obviously it is one of the best and most fun for obvious reasons.. it was the one i was looking forward to the most... simply because i had my family and a lot of friends who was going to be watching my performance.. FINALLY! a performance that i perform to people i know.. but at the same time.. that was more nervous then anything.
because it was nascar weekend, all the hotels were heavily booked.. so northern lights was forced to stay in the motel 6 =( if you know how NL travels, motel 6 is as bad as you can get=(.. micaela, carla and tracey suprised me by coming to visit me at the motel 6.. it was my highlight of the day!
that night we rehersed at Shadow Ridge HS (where the canadian crew was there to watch).. i had a good rehersal.. i hope everyone enjoyed it... it was too bad that we were not in a gym where the crew could watch from high up.. but it's also nice to be up close and personal.
saturday was our prelims day.. had rehersal from 2-6 and performed at 9:45.. when i got to the performance site, i saw my brother and mom, which was great.. haven't seen them in months.. i think they were really happy to see me. i had a really solid show.. at the end of the show, i had my first admirer come up to me! yes for attention=0 lol. it's usually all about josh and ricky=) but we ended up placing 2nd in prelims.
sunday.. same crap.. rehersed from 9-11:30.. performed at 3:30.. another solid show.. 2nd in finals. sunday night was our first free night.. went to the san remo to start our gambling spree.. although not many of us had money... met up with muk,carla, tracey.. it was a good time.. finally i got to spend some time with micaela.. which i have missed so much.
monday was a free day the whole day.. started eating brunch with my family and micaela.. then went to buy cocktails in a huge cup... walked around all day with the boys and girls.. almost was late for the bus home....... it was a great time!
the bus ride however was not a great time.. everyone was pissed drunk.. buddy puked in a bag.. nick puked as well.. funny business happened onthe bus.. it will be explained later.. =)
2 weekends and we're off to dayton! how exciting! my first time! everyone says how great it is and how nervous i will be.. i'm kinda scared
Posted at 10:50 am by gingerbeep
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Wednesday, March 16, 2005
I am so sorry it took so long to update.. i've been sick, rehersed for hours upon hours, as well as recovering for all the injuries that happen to me=)
first of all, congrats to Stampede and Edmonton Ambassadors for their great show in denver.. i wish i was there to see it but i am just glad to see guard in canada fluorish! GO CANADA!
as well, good luck to Escalade and Expired on their show this weekend in Vegas.. i can't wait to catch up with you all and i miss you all so much.
Safe travels to all those who are goign to vegas to watch or to perform!
San Antonio was a great experience.. it was my first time in texas.. and of course, as Northern Lights travels to a city, we always bring the rain with us... sigh.. i was looking forward to getting a tan for the first time this year too=(
our first flight got delayed to denver and we wern't sure if we were goign to make the connecting flight to san antonio... but in the end, the flight from denver to san antonio ended up waiting for us so that we could catch the flight... they gave out free booze in return for being delayed... most of the boys went to town on that.. me?? i don't do drinking on flights.. got to texas very late.. i basically passed out right away.
Friday was a good day.. we actually got to sleep in a bit... went to reherse in this ghetto indoor soccer facility with a super low ceiling.. that was not fun... the night was the clinic that we were supposed to host that all groups and audiences were invited to... it was great.. we had a huge turnout... (we had to wear really really big t-shirts that said wgi=( ) we basically went at our usual rehersal regime.. warmups, across the floors and rifle block.. we chunked through the show and did a runthrough at the end.. it was a great experience because we were able to practice at the show site... which helped us a lot because the lights were the worst!!!! Hoss loved to play with the crowd and talk big about us... as well as yell at us when we were bad... What was great was that at the end, hundreds of girls stormed on the floor wanting pics and autographs.. that was a sweet experience! felt like an instant rock star!
Saturday was a long day.. we had practice early in the morning for a few hours as well as doing both prelims and finals shows on the same day.. i'm sure all of you know.. it's not easy to get through a run of this show this year... ugh! i had two solid shows.. i think i was able to block out the audience(something that i wasn't able to do in prelims san bernadino) at the end of the finals show, there was a table where NL set up for autographs or pictures.. it was awesome..
a great show and a great tour.. i had a lot of fun.. we had a free night on saturday... but i dind't end up goign anywhere. i was just too exhausted...
on sunday, it was the NL free day.. most of us spent the day at the riverwalk(which was super cool) sunday also just so happen to be the anniversary of the alamo! so there was a bunch of stuff going on at the memorial area. i didn't know too much about the alamo(mainly because i'm canadian) but it was nice to be able to see some things i woudln't usually see... At night, a bunch of us hit coyote ugly.. it was the most fun i've had in a long time.. most of us were all plastered! oscar took care of leo and i.. the two asians were messes.. Gio(the other asian) was a bigger mess.. Josh, Tommy, and Gio ended up staying later then we did... those three also got kicked out of the bar=) lol.. they didn't do anything wrong..they were just drunk and the managers got paranoid.. which sucked!
had a safe flight home... went to play bingo on the next day in vancouver... not much happened.. no one won=(
last weekend was the toughest weekend thus far.. we extended saturday rehersal 12-10.. so we practiced 25 hours the whole weekend.. ugh.. we were all so sore and tired...we got a lot done though and we feel really good about going to vegas.. a bunch of us are sick now so i hope that we all recover by vegas.. i know the bus ride will not be cute! we are leaving tonight!!!!
i'll write more when i get home.. can't wait to see you all in vegas!
Posted at 05:29 pm by gingerbeep
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Thursday, February 24, 2005
Well, i'm finally back home(Vancouver, WA).. a whole lot happened so here goes=)
We left for San Bernadino on wednesday night after our sectional(we left at midnight) and proceeded to drive all the way south to Cali.. the bus ride was a dreadful one.. It was hot and stuffy, and there wasn't too much room to move... it was a pretty ghetto bus. We drove through the night and arrived around 10-11pm the next night on thursday.
We stayed at the Fairfield Inn in Ontario, CA. A really really nice place.. for once, most of us get to sleep on beds(as most of us are on matresses, air matresses or just floor at home) I was rooming with Gerald, Oscar, and Leo.. It was a good time.. we stayed up quite a bit as is what happens when you are on the road.
Friday was a good one.. We actually got to sleep in till 11.. it was some much needed rest.. we had brunch(which rocks by the way.. all the food that NL provides is on bomb! we had the works for breakfest, anything from sandwiches, ribs, pasta, chicken for dinner, and crab dip, bean dip for snacks before sleeping). We had a rehersal from 6-11 and i was just so suprised at the number of people that actually come to watch us reherse... not only that but most of them stayed for the full 5 hours! Some of the girls made posters for us so we could walk into the gym with that. Signature World guard came to watch us reherse the last 1.5 hours or so.. it was nice seeing them(Especially Anthony, who was at the NL auditions back in september).
On Saturday, it was one of the longest days of my life.. physically draining more then anything.. We practiced in a tent (Much like the ones stampede rehersed on at COP a couple years back) with astroturf... it didn't help that it was raining mad! everything was soaked with water. we showered and ate dinner and went to the show which was at Cal State, San Bernadino. it was all very overwhelming to me that day.. i have seen world guards perform, but have never been in one myself to experience the pure pandemonium that occurs. My prelims show was one of the worst of my career.. i think i was not focused enough mentally and let the nerves and the crowd get the best of me ...(it also didn't help that logan world guard was sitting near where is am at for the majority of the show). I had a really tough night after the fact.. i never have bad shows... i think deep inside, i was just worried that i would do the same for finals.. i had a long night and didn't get much sleep that night. 85.6 was our score.. good enough for 3rd in World Class.
Sunday was finals day and as usual, we practiced in the morning for a few hours.. luckily we didn't practice as much as the day before.. by practicing less, i felt i had more to give for the performance. I had such a rush and a good feeling walking in.. I knew i would not blow up again and that i would give the show of my life.. The crowd was just awesome.. just by walking in, the crowd was insane! I followed through with one of the best runs of my life. I hope that they keep on coming.. i finally feel a part and a member of the Northern Lights World Guard. We were luckily able to catch one guard(pride of Cincinnati) who did their show to the song, Everybody hurts. They were dressed in mechanic jumpsuits, a very pretty show... i just hope we have the opporunity to catch more guards.
At the Retreat, we ended up scoring 86.2.. we improved obviously... but still we were in 3rd place.. we were optimistic though.. we still are improving at a rate that Tracy has never seen before, and we have a lot of cleaning and detailing left.. We just finished our show recently, so there is a lot to improve on. The show is a process and we will keep improving.
I was just exhausted after the show but as usual, after finals, it is a free night for all of us. A bunch of us ended up going to TGI Fridays and had a few cocktails and appys. It was nice just to sit back and relax... also to not have to think about the show for awhile.. it is a demanding show.. it leaves you physically and mentally drained by the end of every run. A bunch of the guys were there.. as were the entire staff that were drinking cocktails and just relaxing.. It was nice to talk to Hoss and Sheri in a regular setting and not have the instructor/ student shield on.. Sheri also asked if i was coming back next year.. no clue yet! so many things come into play for next season. After Fridays, we went back to the hotel, where Josh's room was the party room.. everyone just crammed in there and chatted, making obscene amounts of noise. we partied with some of fantasia's members.. it was a crazy night!
Monday was our free day.. We were going to go to disney, but the boys really didn't want to go , and it was presidents day so we assumed that it would be busy(add onto the fact that it was pouring mad in cali the whole time we were there..)... lol, i think we brought the rain from washington to cali.
We basically spent the day in Hollywood. We saw the chinese movie theatre, the place where the oscars were taking place, walked on the walk of fame, went to a sex store for some reason!! We also went on Sunset Blvd. .. etc... We were goign to go see Jimmy Kimmel live.. but we were sidetracked since we found an In and Out burgers! I went to a shoe store.. bought some shoes=) yes micaela... they were cute shoes!..=)
Luckily the next regional we go to, we fly.. but we are bussing to Vegas.. which is 8-10 hours on top of what we had to endure for cali..=( not looking forward to the bus ride
We came home tuesday night and i have been resting ever since.. Last night(wednesday) i went with a bunch of people to watch the Trail blazers vs. Lakers. Good times.. too bad the blazers lost.. but at least they were close! Lulu's party was after the game and we all went over to Luis's house for mexican food, cake, booze and more booze! i passed out on my living room.. it was a crazy night.
i'll write more later
Posted at 06:22 pm by gingerbeep
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Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Good afternoon all.. the pictures from our home show at Sunset HS in beaverton are up... enjoy.. i'm leaving for San Bernadino tonight so i probably won't be able to talk to you all until later
Posted at 03:55 pm by gingerbeep
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Monday, February 14, 2005
Well, i haven't written in awhile and i am sorry.. mainly due to lazyness and just being so busy with everything i have been up to.. The show is complete(FINALLY) and i can't wait to take it on the road
Happy Valentines day Micaela, I love you!
where to begin... well, last week was the first show of the year.. it was a northern lights home show so it wasn't a WGI event, although, we had WGI sanctioned judges there.. I think it was the smallest show i have ever seen!(5 groups? if that?) the good news was the pacificaires were there! they are from surrey BC! yes for canadians! NL did 2 runs, the first was just evaluation.. the judges were there, but it was just time to give groups an opportunity to work things out on the floor.. NL chose to do a run, which was a great run. I was expecting loud cheering and clapping, but when we went on, there really was no one at this show!(kinda like a calgary show).. you would assume that with NL on the sched, a lot more people would go, but that is the life of the Northwest, there really is not too much guard here period! The second run was the scored one, personally i did better the first time but my second run was still a great one.. we ended up scoring an 81.1 which was the top mark in the country.
oh yes. uniforms.. they are very basic... prison made shirts(actually from a prison, made by inmates).. baggy blue jeans, belt and ballet slippers..
Last thursday, Leo, Gerald, Buddy and i went to an Asian supermarket!(finally! i have found one).. of course i went crazy, buying chinese sauces, cookies, candies... i miss chinese food so much! well.. Leo and I went crazy.. Gerald and Buddy just though we were dumb... we bought Dim Sum from a sketchy place... it was really good! After, we went to Washington Square(a Mall 35 mins away from vancouver)... not too much.. we just wanted to go somewhere different.. ended up buying an A&F shirt on sale.. bought a 6 pack of cinnomon buns.. yep! i'm a fat ass!
This past weekend was a hard one.. the last weekend before we leave for So Cal.. we did a run every night (which is not easy) .. went through the show.. gave it more details, it looks so much better and cleaner now.. i am confident we will do well in San Bernadino next week. I leave in a couple days(by bus).. it will be a long bus ride... but the good news is that by the end of the tour(monday) we have a free day at Disney! it should be fun ... haven't been there in a few years.
i have the next few days off before i leave for So Cal so it would be a great time for me to rest and heal up..my right leg is f'ed up and i jammed my thumb.. so many bruises on me.. of course my back and neck hurts.. but that is the life of colorguard.
Not sure what i am doing today, i know the boys want to celebrate valentines day somehow? bowling? bingo? shopping?? i guess i'll have to see.
So i checked the scores last night(as we all do here) and Raiders got an 87! crap!! how did that happen? that's like a 10 point jump? fantasia is at a 74, logan 87, pride is 84... , NL had the week off. Those numbers don't mean anything until we actually meet and compete at the same regional..
Oh yeah, congrats to Escalade and Grandin for a strong peformance in Edmonton, i heard good things from both groups.. I can't wait to see Escalade in Vegas..(although, i doubt i'll be able to see the group perform live....). Grandin... i am so proud of you.. you as a staff have shown that you are great at what you do and i am so blessed to have you all there, giving 100% to the activity we all love...
have a great day everyone.. i'm sure i have tons to write when i get back from So Cal..
Posted at 01:54 pm by gingerbeep
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Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Well, rehersal last weekend was another tough one.. I'm sure that it will get progressively harder with more expectation on the detail. after every weekend i am just physically and mentally drained.. But i know it will all pay off in the end.. it is goign to be a great show.. lots of risk and a big impact show.
next week on saturday is our home show.. should be a good time.. once performance season starts, i'm sure the season will just zoom by.
Just so you all know, the NL bios are up on the site.. feel free to take a look.. It is located on the world page of nlinc.org
later!
Posted at 05:12 pm by gingerbeep
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Thursday, January 27, 2005
Portlands version of the calgary tower!
Hey all, it's been awhile.. i have been very busy lately so i will do a lot of summarizing.. i really don't remember all i did last week till now, it's all been a blur.
Well on thursday, i finally went shopping again.. it was nice going as it has been way too long.. I went to the westfield mall(the only mall in vancouver)... picked up a couple of nice things.. including a seatbelt belt for micaela... (THOSE THINGS ARE THE COOLEST!)
afterwards, Leo, Buddy and I went to the Portland City Grill. It is basically like the calgary tower... except it is located on the tallest building in portland(which wasn't very tall).. the restaurant was located on the 30th floor and there was a view of the city, which was super nice.
We went there and were unaware of the dress code they had.. so we ran to a table so taht they couldn't detect our runners(which wern't allowed)... the good thing about that restaurant is that after 10, there are happy hour specials.. there was a page of happy hour special food for under 4 bucks.. i had a lot of sushi and a coconut curry rice bowl! sooo good.. i will have to go again.. oh yeah, buddy had to wait at the desk in front because he wasn't 21=)
The weekend rehersal was brutal.. and i know it will get worse this weekend.. as we stand, we are still not done the show yet.. so there is a lot of work to be done.. but we are feeling really comfortable with our work and i think that will do be fine.. NL is always great at all times.. this year will be no different.
movement blocks are super short now(20-40 mins).. block is getting shorter... ALWAYS A GOOD THING!
we learnt our sabre section.. it is going to be a great show.. all that is left is a little section in the end.
i have a show coming up and i'm really excited.. it's goign to be shaky but i' msure we'll be able to get it!
more to write later.. bye y'all!
Posted at 08:28 pm by gingerbeep
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Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Hey everyone, new pics are FINALLY up at the NL site.. there are some of me... ALL REALLY REALLY BAD ONES! they really need to tell me when they are taking pictures! but other then that.. enjoy.. they posted quite a few pictures this time!
Posted at 01:03 am by gingerbeep
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