ten     vomitting, along with kyle, after the second ever run through of chaos in allentown, 2000. we ran it once and it was really difficult. they told us to get water, and set it up again. of course we chugged as much water as possible cause it was hot. at the end of the second run, kyle and i looked at each other and puked up all that water. yummy.

nine     somewhere hot, 1998. it rained during ensemble, so all the flags were wet. the guard left them out to dry, and never came back to put them away. ian and i got stuck loading all the flags, rifles, sabres, contras, and stairs by ourselves before we left for the show. [it was our job to load the stairs only] as we locked the truck, we realized that the buses were leaving us. we sprinted to the bus, uniforms in hand, and banged on the door. the driver let us in. the only bus trauma ive ever had.

eight     falling down on giants stadium day in 1998 during the toilet bowl and tearing my right quad. two rounds of physical therapy later, its still not fixed.

seven      getting nailed in the head with a flagpole, 1998. i was on the end of the form, and the way the move was designed,  i came insanely close to a guard person. she was a little off as far as the work goes, and where i would normally feel the silk of the flag against my nose, there was nothing but pole. marc sylvester yelled at her over the long ranger, and told her that if she ever did it again, she would be out of the whole song. i felt so bad. for the rest of the year, i always cheated the move a little, so not to get killed or said guard person in trouble.

six     drums along the rockies, 1999. seeing 8 people in front of me fall down on the opening move. it was indicative of what the rest of the season had in store.

five    marching in the mud in washington dc 1999. the mud was at least 4 inches deep on side one near the front hash. it was the last show before finals week. near the very end of the show my left foot got sucked into the mud, and i took a knee. white pants with a large mud stain on the right knee are not attractive. [i did manage to keep my horn on my shoulder during this entire ordeal, however.]

four     learning drill at giants stadium, may 1998. 'you are tall. get on the end.' -jeff sacktig     my life was never the same after that [you know what i mean if you have ever marched the endspot in jeff's drill.]

three     murfreesboro 1999- all three days we spent there. it was disgusting. i remember listening to the radio at the food truck on one of those mornings...the dj said that there was a heat warning, and that no one should go outside. then the five hour marching block started.

two     contracting pneumonia with two weeks left to go in the 2000 season, and subsequently having to miss a whole day of rehearsal. [i went outside and did the run through, so i could be in the show that night. we got to the gate at the show, and it started pouring rain. we did not perform.]

one     the colts home show, 1999. i [and many many others] was miserable and wanted to go home. the only time i ever wished i was elsewhere during the summer. [the brass warmup this night consisted of us playing 'G' repeatedly until the attack was perfect [27 times by my count] and then almighty father.]