Testing

just testing this thing out to see if it's still up and working.

Hello out there

Does anybody still check on this silly thing?

Coming Back....

I will start posting again soon.  I am just seeing if anybody still looks at this thing.  I've been place and met a lot of new people "Along the Way" lately.

Remembering 9 -11-2001

This is a post I always repost on 9/11

I remember the day well. It was a nice, clear, cool morning. It was my first year at Batesburg-Leesville and things were finally starting to come together for the little band. We only had about 40 kids that year and changed shows during band camp to a "Beach Boys" show. Things were not ideal but the support from the administration was sincere and that made things better too. Any way, I had 1st block planning that day and the Pecknel guy, Will, had just came into my room when the phone rang. It was Cindy telling me that a plane had crashed into on the trade towers so Will and I turned on the TV in the band room. We thought it was a bad accident because things like this had happened long ago to the Empire State building. We then saw the second place hit the tower. It was apparent then that the crashes were no accident. Through out the day things developed as they did. The principal called me and asked if I would like for him to announce the cancellation of my planned afternoon rehearsal because all other after school activities had been cancelled. I thought about it for a moment and of course that would have been the easy thing to do. I knew there would many confused kids that day but when they came to band room for class that day, one student asked "Can we just play music?" One other student even thanked me for letting them play and turning off the TV. That day we did rehearse. We were in the stadium and I can still remember it as the quietest marching band rehearsal I have ever attended. I don't remember if we got better that day at band but we learned a bit more than notes and sets. There were no airplanes, no other people, nothing but us. I also remember the butterflies. The monarch butterflies migrate this time of the year and as they start their journey south. Every once in a while two or three would fly across the field slowly. At the end of rehearsal, I called the group down as I still do today. They gathered together and I told them this "Some may ask why we chose to practice today and my answer is simple. We practiced because we could." Although a group of people tried to take away our feeling of security, they could not. We practiced because long, long ago and today too there are people who have fought for and continue to fight for our right to be free and have the freedom to do things we enjoy. That day we practiced because we could. I will always remember that day and the monarch butterflies too.

Some Changes in the Blog

If you are reading this on purpose, I am surprised! Seems the old blog just ain't what it use to be. There are some changes in the blog.  One is the title.  I don't know if I will change the address or not because I am, after all, still a director and the one I wanted was taken any way...  I just think many thought the blog was about them and it certainly is not.  It is about things I see and people I meet.  So that is the reason for the change.  I will still post stuff about band but it might include some other things with a bit more focus too like fishing.  I have always enjoyed meeting new people and I have met my share of interesting characters so I hope to include descriptions of the some of those too.  It might just become fun again.  Somebody once said they didn't want to read about fishing or my interest, they wanted to read about the band.  My response was simple.  The blog wasn't about "the" band.  It was about my band and my interests.  Just the truth I guess. 

Something to Ponder...

I went down to Captain Tony's
To get out of the heat

I heard a voice call out to me Son come have a seat

I had to search my memories

As I looked into those eyes

Our lives change like the weather

But a legend never dies

Chorus: He said I ate the last mango in Paris

Took the last plane out of Saigon

I took the first fast boat to China And Jimmy there's still so much to be done

I had a third world girl in Buzios

With a pistol in each hand

She always kept me covered

As we moved from land to land I had a damn good run on Wall Street

With my high fashion model wife

Woke up dry beneath the African sky

Just me and my Swiss Army knife

Chorus: I ate the last mango in Paris Took the last plane out of Saigon

I took the first fast boat to China And Jimmy there's still so much to be done

We shot the breeze for hours

As the sun fell from the sky

And like the sun he disappeared Before my very eyes

It was somewhere past dark-thirty

As we went back to the head I read upon the dingy wall

The words the old man said

He said I ate the last mango in Paris Took the last plane out of Saigon

I took the first fast boat to China

And Jimmy there's still so much to be done

I ate the last mango in Paris Took the last plane out of Saigon

I took the first fast boat to China And Jimmy there's still so much to be done

By the way, I have been to Captain Tony's and it really is written upon the wall in the head...if you have not seen it, you should.

There are not enough thinkers in the world...

How To Grow Up Creatively Gifted

Don’t be afraid to “fall in love” with something and pursue it with intensity. (You will do best what you like to do most.)

Know, understand, take pride in, practice, develop, use, exploit, and enjoy your greatest strengths.

Learn to free yourself from the expectations of others and to walk away from the games they try to impose on you.

Free yourself to “play your own game” in such a way as to make good use of your gifts.

Find a great teacher or mentor who will help you.

Don’t waste a lot of expensive, unproductive energy trying to be well rounded. (Don’t try to do everything; do what you can do well and what you love.)

Learn the skills of interdependence. (Learn to depend upon one another, giving freely of your greatest strengths and most intense loves.)