I have decided to start today's entry with a little background story (thanks Jayne for asking such a question that would prompt this part!!)
Henrietta is my stuffed Hippo..how did Henri come to be...that's a good story.
Every year at Christmas there is a song they play on the radio, "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" (ever heard it?? not the greatest song but it's catchy) Last Christmas there was lots of singing the Hippo song by myself and other friends and even comments made about how a certain handbell composer could perhaps arrange the song for bells.
well, one day at my office a box arrived..it had an out of state return address and was addressed to me..inside was HENRIETTA!! I got my wish..my very own Hippo for Christmas!! (it was determined who sent the Hippo but I'll leave that a secret) I also received two other hippos from a good friend. (no, my collecting has not changed from Donald Duck to Hippos..trust me)
so now you know...the REST of the story!!
On to New Bern...
today we all slept in till about 9 then got up, got ready and headed downstair for the breakfast buffet.
after breakfast we headed out to see some of downtown New Bern, had lunch at Morgan's Tavern & Grill, then back to the convention for the first rehearsal of Distinctly Bronze (DB)
Schedule for today was as follows:
10-2 .. Registration
2:30-2:50..welcome and announcement
3-5:30..rehearsal
5:30-6:45..Dinner Buffet
7-9:30..rehearsal
So we survived the first rehearsal..the first run through of the first song was VERY indimidating..partially because of the song, partially due to the people around me having rung it before and knowing what they were doing compared to myself.
David stated today that we will have a total of 24.5hrs of ringing between now and Sunday..can you imagine? I'm here doing this and I have a hard time imagining
a few quotes of the day:
"that was Wal-Mart...give me Neiman Marcus!"
"those are my bells..give them to me!"
"come on yall you had steak & chicken for dinner, muscle up!"
"some of you are still talking in case you can't tell"
Tomorrow things start up at 8:00 with a rehearsal which means an early morning since three of us have to get ready, get some breakfast and be in our seats by 7:50 if we want to attempt to win a door prize.
like I said earlier, the first song was intimidating...the songs got better, that's what rehearsal is for.
the room is set up like you would see a room for mass ringing at a bell seminar but this experience is totally different, the participants here WANT to be here..we have all taken time from our work, our families, our "non-bell" life to spend 4 days ringing bells...we have marked, we have practiced on our own, we have come prepared...you don't get all of that at a regular "seminar" are some of the participants here a little "over the edge"?? you bet! but would it be the event that it is if that didn't exist? that's the real question.
Till tomorrow...I have music to mark!!
No comments:
Post a Comment