Wednesday without Field Rehearsal: I'm crying on the inside

Tonight is the first real Wednesday without a band field rehearsal since the football season ended. (The night before Thanksgiving doesn't count since no one's here anyway). And in some ways this is sad. As Vice President elect Michael Kettler said during his campaign speech on Monday "field rehearsal is great because the band comes together and plays some music, jokes around and has a good time" (definitely not a direct quote, but a very loose paraphrase.)

I couldn't agree more Mike. I'd say Field Rehearsal is one of the sweetest things about being in the band (besides free stuff all the time). For a hour or so we get to march on the field in the oldest two tiered college football stadium in the country, the same place where the Eagles played for 13 years from 1958-1971 , and home to the nation's largest and oldest track and field events . And the beauty is that we have the whole of Franklin Field to ourselves.

What's really cool is that unlike other colleges and probably most high schools, our field rehearsals are fun times. While we're serious about learning the formations and whatnot, we still joke around and enjoy ourselves on Franklin Field. Like during the one on Halloween when I threw a football right at Joe Coyne who was wearing a Newports cigarette box as a costume. Or the time when Greer tackled Joe.

But without a doubt the best part of Field Rehearsal is something we call Band Football League. After the rehearsal is "over" the real fun starts. Since we still have Franklin Field all to ourselves we play a little pickup game of football. And since it's the band, anyone can play, regardless of skill level. This year alone we had superior athletes like Handsome Hands Tom Tom, to old men like Greer to freshmen sensations like Lauren to our Drum Majoresident Becca and loads in between.

In fact one of my regrets about Basketball season is that we don't have something similar to BFL or to field rehearsal. I mean seriously, how sick would it be to play pick up basketball in the Palestra? Probably sicker than Greer was after playing BFL (just joking, Greer did awesome).

UPDATE: Today's the first Saturday since the start of the year (Thanksgiving weekend aside again) that didn't have a football game. Unlike last Wednesday, I'm glad about this since I got to sleep in to 2pm. Nice.

Greetings!

To write for an audience or not to write for an audience? Blogs beg the question, but I'll save my answer for a later time. For now, here's a brief summary of who I am and why I'm choosing to contribute to this blog.

Most people call me Lisa. I graduated in May as a member of the Class of 2007 (our Facebook group asserts, "We're the best Class of 2007 ever"), and I'm currently living and working in Philadelphia as a clinical research specialist at an academic medical center, Thomas Jefferson University. The study that I'm working on is investigating the correlation between cardiovascular risk factors (like diabetes, hypertension, etc.) and cognitive decline (memory loss) in older adults. Day-to-day I enjoy what I do, although there are some days that are particularly rewarding/depressing. As a Penn Band member, I was a member of the clarinet section, served on the 2006 Bored as President, conducted at a fair number of women's basketball games, perfected the face painting art of 'quadrants', and lost my wallet at a Burger King in Connecticut on the Harvard/Dartmouth road trip (thanks for spotting me money for Subway once we got to Hanover, Greer).

Why do I choose to blog? When I was in high school, I desperately sought out any kind of personal accounts or experiences Internet strangers were offering to share about life at their respective universities, and, now that I have time to live a life devoid of homework, exams and paper deadlines, it's my turn to give back. That, and I certainly have had a memorable love affair with the Penn Band (no, not in the Humbert Humbert way)-- sometimes stories just need to be shared!

Next up: the Fab Five Gen X et al. take a roadtrip to Baltimore...