Marching Sucks

A long time ago in a high school far, far away... I played flute in the band. Our band instructor thought it might be an awesome idea to do a parade. The Starlight Parade. How wrong he was...that was and still is my opinion.

We had to learn how to march and play at the same time. It is not easy to breathe at the correct times when playing an instrument, let alone moving at the same time. We wore itchy polyester black and gold uniforms with bright yellow, fuzzy hats that had the semblance of a Marge Simpson Hairdo. We called them Q-tips. (They were handy for storing stuff, though.)

To my dismay, all the bands were evaluated by a member of the Marine Corp before the actual marching part of the parade. Yeah. Fun times. Anyhow, he examined EVERYONE in the band and when he came in front of me...well, I have a weird reaction when I get nervous. I laugh hysterically. Don't worry, I held it in because I didn't think the Marine would take it kindly if I burst out in laughter. He must have caught a fleeting glimpse of my nervousness, because he ran a white glove over my flute.

I never want to be almost nose-to-nose with a Marine again. I apparently I passed inspection, though, because he left me alone.

Then...there was the 'joy' of trudging along a two and a half mile route being gawked at while tootling on my flute. It wasn't a FUN experience and it taught me that marching, in a band anyhow, is basically a pain and not worth the bother.