The Daily Adventures of Mercat

1) the IU marching band in pregame

2) two Trooper alumni involved in pregame, I'm not sure in what capacity

3) the IU drumline as well as Avon, Center Grove, Franklin Central, and Fishers high schools drumlines in halftime as "Madonna's marching band"

4) a guy who marched SCV, worked in some capacity for Blast, and is currently a show designer (drill? choreography?) for Scouts

5) Cadets' drumline recorded the drum cadence for halftime.



So can we get a FUCK YEAH INDIANAPOLIS? I take back everything I said pre-gametime.

Now if we could just progress to a full-on corps show...

Despite my general feeling of melancholy lately-- and, oh, how I hate that word-- melancholy, ugh-- (and I do mean, literally, the word itself, not how it is defined or used or anything, I just have this bizarre intense dislike for the spelling and sheer existence of its sound) I also feel rather victorious the past few days.

I don't know which one of these to post last, because I am a save-the-best-for-last person, because three out of four of these just make me stupid-smiley-happy.

...I may have also been spending too much time on Tumblr being all internet-y and fandom-y so my brain is kind of running in that mode lately, too. So... sorry. (Also, damn, there is a lot of problematic posts on tumblr. But you know what? I deal with enough shit everywhere else, I can't turn that epic little corner of crossover jokes into another space where I get mad at people. I just can't deal with that, bleh.)

(Also, there was an adorable episode of the Simpsons with a Pixar parody and a Wallace and Gromit parody and they were SO well done and cute.)

(Umm, and Taco Bell has an ad with Pagliacci and I feel like with all the Phantom of the Opera I've been seeing and possibly going to see the limited showing of Les Mis that I should go see some real opera again? I think the last one I saw was Aida, and I always liked Carmen, and I just HAVE NOT SEEM MUCH THEATER LATELY I would even go for some Shakespeare. As long as it's not Much Ado About Nothing or As You Like It? I can't remember which, but one of them is terrible. But mostly I just feel like I should see a real version of Pagliacci because everything I know about Pagliacci is from Spike Jones. And possibly Merry Melodies/Looney Tunes.)

I aced my interview for Pier 1 today, so I am now seasonally employed. And it sounds like it's not many hours, which is good for me. You can't see my face right now, but I'm giving a sort of evil smirk, because sometimes I am a little conniving and I hate myself for it, but the little kid who read the entire Hardy Boys series is so proud of any time I am successfully involved in subterfuge.

Uhhhhh and I found out that when you put your dvd codes into Disney's Movie Reward program you also get a "digital library" hosted on their site which is PERFECT for while I'll be in Hawaii because I'll be taking maybe like two dvds with me. (Buuuut a lot of books. Like too many.) [EDIT: Actually, possibly, it might be only a discount to a streaming version. Which is a little skeezy IMO.]

Yesterday I found out that a few of my friends told some epic tales of me to the rookies this summer, and that just made my month. I miss the Troop so much. <3 WHY ARE ALL MY FRIENDS OUT WESSSST

Uh, also, I forgot how good horizontal stripes look on me and can I just say this sweater looks fucking great? And it's Hufflepuff colors. (And so are my socks.)

HUFFLEPUUUUUUFF

Okay and then I made a ridiculous joke yesterday on facebook, it was so great, and it just made me feel really awesome because my seat partner from last year was being a smartass about it and I feel the joke's quality is on par with the stuff the rest of my family (read: mostly my dad and uncle) crank out. It's a bit... audience specific, BUT! Here it is:

The set-up: a drum corps' tuba section has to break into their friend's dreams on a long overnight drive states away in order to save him from making a terrible tour-goggles-induced mistake. The title? C O N T R A - C E P T I O N


Oh my god my brain is in meme mode I'm so sorry.






:D

Yeah, Casper actually does have an airport.

My sister and I just got back from seeing Bridesmaids. It was good, but it's not "the girls' version of the Hangover" like it was being billed. It's more of "the girl's version of I Love You, Man" which was supposed to be a chick flick for guys, but I wouldn't necessarily call it that. Anyway, it was good.

At one point they end up in Casper, Wyoming... but it was definitely not Casper. HAH.


Also-also, my sister pointed out they show Dayton in the center of the map in the Super 8 trailer... that's not Dayton, either. TOO MANY HILLS. That shit looks more like south Chillicothe.

This is what I do, I go to movies and bitch about details.

HAH.




(Also I got my grades back, I got a B- in Finite Elements?! So I guess that means I graduated successfully.)

Yep, late again. Still working on this damn reinforced concrete footing design spreadsheet. THRILLING, I KNOW.

Hilarious: watching Australia before or after watching VanHelsing. Also, Nicole Kidman kind of bothers me in this movie.

WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT NOT AGAIN. It says they did it to Phantom in '09 (?) but I don't recall off the top of my head. (Then again, Red Violin... nobody cared? I didn't say that, haha) There's a strong wave of response to this on my facebook. Is Troop responsible for the video rights? Is DCI? No one seems to know. Anyway, this is CRAP. However, they still have the music rights, so... buy the mp3, rip the video, mash them together. The worst part about the stupid thing is, though, that I'm pretty sure Wanted is the song they didn't get rights to. Which means: no intro, no outro, AND NO CLOSER COMPANY FRONT. Goddamn that's ridiculous.

I'm also a little depressed because just a few days ago my wall was a flood of people registering for camps and buying plane tickets. I miss everyone dearly. I'm starting to wonder how crazy the scene is in Japan, maybe march a summer there or something, huh? That would be crazygonuts awesome. (March with Tatsu and Aya? haha)

ANYWAY, once again, two days worth of prompts while I procrastinate on my other homework some more:

My closest friends... I have a lot. People from high school, college roomies, and corps people. I'll keep it simple for the sake of people's sanity. (Roughly 850 facebook friends ensures this is not a simple answer.)

Three favorite colors? ALSO A LOT. Haha. Generally I lean towards (surprise!) really bright colors, but I also lean towards blue, green, and purple. And then orange, and also pink, and in particular any of these colors with gray tones. Classy.

Hey all! I've been meaning to post the HUGE post I have sitting on my desktop with a month's worth of book reviews, articles, youtube videos, all that shtuff... Unfortunately I just haven't had time this week.

Anyway, I'm off to march with Troopers for the summer! You can follow me on twitter (mercat) for random thoughts and sometimes scores.

H.L.D. and have a great summer!

Well, no parties or anything going on this year. =/ As such, I think I will be liveblogging the commercials. I just got back from chapter and though pregame is going, there don't seem to be new commercials yet. Also, I promise not to spam your friends page with too many updates. =)

Go Dayton Triangles! (That would be the Colts.) Kinda wish they were playing in Lucas Oil Stadium though because then I could say, LOOK, I HAVE BEEN ON THAT FIFTY YARD LINE. SEVERAL TIMES IN FACT. :D




Dear lord, I'm such a fucking drum corps nerd. Haha! I miss our show.

Family dinner tonight, that was interesting. Max called beforehand and told Laura and I to wear plaid, it turns out Max and Kyle and Chris all wore flannel plaid, it was awesome. We were so ridiculous-looking.

The only bad part was when Kyle ran off to the bathroom once, we started joking that we wouldn't be surprised if he came out bi, more likely than gay, seriously, he has some... interesting affectations. But it sort of veered off into a discussion about bisexuality, and it really pissed me off because Max and Laura said they didn't understand it, you either are or you aren't gay, and I was just pissed because trying to explain anything subtle to them--here the Kinsey scale, or like earlier, the racism and shit in Avatar--first, they don't want to listen. Second, they assume I have to be a part of that minority to be offended, and I really, really don't need them to be seriously thinking I'm gay or something. I mean, not that it would be a slur, but that I already get enough harassment from my family for not liking ham and pineapple. Seriously. (Tangent: is there something similar to the Kinsey scale for hyper-/a-sexuality/romanticism? Because I'm not completely polarized but I'm definitely more on the icebitch side, to put it one way...) Yeah, so I got to be offended by their ignorance for a bit, listen to them talk about all their drinking and dating and crap like that, and sometimes I forget that I spend so much time online and that people online... actually read... and know things. =/

Yeah.

Probably not going to do a big post for New Year's since there's going to be PARTY AT MY HOUSE omg beer pong on the back porch gonna be ridic sleepover with ~everyone~ I am super excited. Not too crazy but I love my friends. =)

2009... you can show yourself to the door. My summer was amazing, I made a lot of friends, a lot of best friends, and yet the rest of the year sucked fucking ass. A fucking shit-ton of it.

2010... I am willing to have another crappy year to have a summer better than the last. Age-out, go big or go home, I want to come in more than 12th. Glassmen can GTFO and passing Phantom would be amazing, idk, this summer is going to be amazing, period. But 2010, I'd really like to start the teens (EVEN THOUGH IT'S NOT THE NEXT DECADE, I ~KNOW~) well, so if you could see it to not be so shitty? That would be great. Really.


goddamn, 2009, you were a bitch

Fffffff why am I still stressed out on break. I have to clean my room--my room which is FULL OF MOVING BOXES AND NO FURNITURE--because Christmas is at our house this year. And hanging out with friends? Yeah... I'm sick. It kinda sucks. And I don't think the New Orleans trip is happening... =C Which I am super sad about because I bought this awesome tuxedo jacket for New Year's, and now I can't wear it! Ugghhhhh sometimes I hate Ohio as much as all my high school friends did.

Yeah... idk. This is going to be one hell of a break.

Let's see though. Friday we went to the TSO concert, it was... good. But not great. Here's the thing. TSO has a new album out called Nightcastle... Which is more like a "halloween" album. It's classical music (Carmina Burana was awesome) but they spent the whole second half of the show with gargoyles, flames, and lightning... Not very Christmasy. So that kind of sucked. (Not to mention my ears were practically bleeding by the end.)

Saturday I went lasertagging for three hours in Cincy with Kim and Melissa. It was super awesome. =) My second-to-last game I got second place! HURRAH. After that I drove back up to Fairborn for the Brandstetter's party where I told Pat and Kevin and Lara about the 3hrs for $15 lasertagging and we are going to Suit Up and go down there. It's going to be epic. Yeah... nothing else really happened at the Brandstetter's party though, except I think I managed to get Lara's cold.

So yeah, now I'm kinda sick. Sunday I was unable to walk because apparently all the lasertag ramps killed my quad? IDFK. And also I was sick. Hypersensitivity is the worst.

Yesterday was crazy... Dental cleaning, Laura got her wisdom teeth out, had to take grandma to the hospital to get her leg checked, and then I went to Johnny's house to watch MST3K where it turns out here and his sister had made baseball-sized buckeyes. deeeaaaaamn

Yeah, so. Today the cats went to the vet... They gained wait. Ugh. Time to put them on a diet.

Yep... that is my break so far. CHAOS.

So Geoffrey Rush was in a film about Peter Sellers life? I maybe should have bought it, it was $2 at Second Time Around, but I didn't feel like watching a semi-depressing bioflick. Even if Geoffrey Rush is super amazing, and Peter Sellers is even cooler.

Anyway, the Iron Man 2 trailer is out, and awesome, despite how lame Whiplash looks, and I CAN NOT WAIT. More hot engineering action? Oh, you know it. If only they hadn't dumped Terrence Howard, there really was no reason for that.

Total moral quandary: on facebook, I cannot decide if my profile pic should be Ancient Mew or Blastoise. BOTH ARE AWESOME. BOTH ARE HOLO. Breaking news: I am a nerd. ngl it makes me want to pull out all my old cards. I probably will when I get home.

You know another reason I love Troop? Everyone there is freaking HUGE NERDS. I swear to god every time I meet up with Troop people we have at least one small discussion involving Pokemon. Idek why, it just ALWAYS HAPPENS.

So there's been that video going around of the octopus using a broken coconut as a tool, you know, disregarding the fact that octopi at aquariums break out of their tanks all the time to eat other creatures, or spit out their night-lights, or crack puzzles to get to snacks. I HATE CEPHALOPODS. D: Dear Discovery Channel, thank you for horrifying me with your future-of-evolution special about how octopi/squids/whatever will climb out of the seas and live like monkeys and become the next intelligent beings. FUCK. YOU. Not to mention their texture is terrible for eating.

So Adidas finally released their Star Wars collection, and... it looks horrible. I mean, good on you if you like skater shoes or REALLY LIKE DARTH VADER or even x-wings. And the stormtrooper ones looked promising before... But the Princess Leia ones? *gag* Really.

Sadly, the only ones I'd probably wear would be the Falcons. =/ And they're not even that interesting. Sad day. ([EDIT] I LIED, I found better pictures, the Falcons suck too and the coolest ones are the TIE fighters.)

Interesting article about technology and relationships, although, it is from Cracked so take it as you will. ngl I'm kind of excited for psych 101 next semester. (Somewhat unrelated, I know.)

Anyone have one of these lying around somewhere? I kind of want one. To match my flashlight. And because it's adorable. yesssssss

Famoose on UD's page: http://www.udayton.edu/artssciences/opportunities_and_activities.php (that's me in the yellow shirt)


Famoose on DCI.org!!!: http://www.dci.org/news/view.cfm?news_id=0859c5fa-e629-43e6-9002-928ba37725df

The Facebook event listed there is one that two of my Troop friends and I are leading. We've got about 500 people involved so far, and it's doing a good job getting votes. =) I'm hoping all these links from DCI.org and the DCI fan page and *hopefully* from the DCI group will get the many thousands involved (idk site readership, but the fan page has 37000 fans and the group has 15000 members) and people could WIN! That would be glorious.


So, if you have a facebook account, would you add Chase's fan page and then vote for the Troopers? I would greatly appreciate it! =)

(You get 20 votes so you can vote for your 20 favorite charities... I ended up voting for a lot of smaller corps that need the support.)