You May Now Take the Floor in State Finals Competition

Indoor Percussion is a competitive group which takes place in the winter. It is similar to marching band except it is just the percussion section. I got to participate in this group one year in high school and really enjoyed it. We ended up getting 4th place at state that year. My brother is now involved in the group, and he also likes it. I was excited when I saw that both the state prelims and state finals were during my spring break. This way, I was able to see him perform in his competition.

The morning of state prelims, I got up to get ready and felt really awful, so I decided not to go. I was pretty disappointed because I really wanted to go to this, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to handle going. I ended up going to the doctor so that I could go see him if they made it to state finals, which they did!

My dad was going to go with us to state finals, but he had to work that day. It ended up just being my mom, grandma, sister, and I who went to cheer on my brother. I had heard about their show, but I had not seen it yet. Now it was time for their last performance of the season. I couldn't wait to see what the show was going to be like.

The name of their show is Modern Times. For props, they had a giant switch and electrical outlet which had a plug going into it. To start off the show, they flipped the switch on. This gave them the energy to perform. Throughout the show, they had a girl who would jokingly turn the switch on and off to give them/take away their energy.

Halfway through the show, they yelled at this girl because everyone ran out of "energy." She then pointed to the switch to show them that she had not done anything. The pit section then had to play in order to recharge the drumline which had completely stopped played and fallen to the ground.

They all got recharged back to their high energy levels in order to finish off the show with high excitement. To end the show, they pulled the plug and dropped it to the ground to cut off all the energy supply. The crowd then cheered to show their appreciation of the performance and the performers.

Now we had to wait to go through the rest of the performances before awards. Luckily we were toward the end, so there weren't very many groups left to go. After the groups were done and the scores were calculated, it was time for all the groups to come back for an on-court retreat for awards.

The groups all lined up, and you could tell they were nervous. The places were announced in reverse order, so the longer they went without hearing their name, the better. Everyone wanted to be called last. One by one, they announced school names. We waited and waited to be called. In the end, they got 5th out of the 17 groups in their class. I thought that they had done really well and was proud of what they had accomplished. Of course, they thought they could have done better, but you will always have that.

I really enjoyed getting to go to state finals to see the different shows and support my brother. I wish I could have gone to prelims too, but at least I got to see his show once. Indoor Percussion will always be exciting to me since I actually got the opportunity to participate in it. I hope that my brother stays in it the next two years, so I will have a good excuse to go and watch these fun competitions.

Estoy Enferma

The week before spring break is always a busy time for students. Professors want to get exams and projects in before all the students leave. I know that this week I had an exam, an essay, an interview, and a major project. While this seems like a lot of work, it wouldn't have been so bad if I wasn't sick all week.

I'm pretty sure that I got this sickness Sunday from all that rain we got. Sunday morning I was perfectly fine, but as the afternoon and evening came, I just got worse. I couldn't tell my mom that I was sick because that was one of her big worries when I left. She kept asking who would be there to take care of me. I knew that if she found out, I would be seeing her before long.

I am really thankful for the friends I have here to look after me. I was talking to a friend on Monday and told her that I wasn't feeling well. She knew that since I am a freshman in the dorms, I probably didn't have access to any medication, so she offered to get me some. I said no and thanked her for the offer, but she just insisted more that she would get me something. I just told her not to worry about it since she had three exams on Wednesday to study for. I would be home on Friday, and I could get something then.

I should have known that she couldn't take no for an answer. She text me later that evening asking me to come outside. Immediately I knew what she had done, but I still questioned her about it. She went on to say how she had gone to Wal-mart and gotten me some cough drops. While I was a little upset with her for wasting her study time to take care of me, I was also grateful for her kindness.

Another friend of mine kept telling me to drink plenty of water and orange juice and go to bed early. I'm used to getting about six hours of sleep a night, so the nine hours I got last night was wonderful. I just had so much to worry about this past week that I couldn't really go to bed too early. Hopefully I can catch up on this sleep this coming week.

I am really thankful for these people that care so much about me. I love them to death and know that my life would be totally different without them. I will miss seeing them over spring break but can't wait to give them that giant hug as soon as I feel better and don't have to worry about passing my germs on to them.

I'm a VIP

Everyone wants to feel important. When you go to a concert, it is great to have backstage passes. You feel like your status increases when you get invited to a VIP party. Well, here at Purdue, I am a VIP. You can be one to. How can you do this? VIP is the all sports pass here at Purdue. With this pass, you get ticket vouchers to all the football, volleyball, and basketball games. You can get in to some sporting events by just showing your card. Other sports are just free to the public.

Starting next year, there will no longer be reserved seating for the football games. The whole student sections will now be general admission. This gives all students access to the lower part of the stadium. This would happen as soon as I was eligible to get these seats. The people in charge of the seating were tired of students with reserved seats not showing up until right before the game began. The lower section would be empty, while the people with general admission tickets got there early to get good seats. They wanted to give the students who got to the game early the opportunity to get close seats, so they can cheer on their Boilers. This would get the energy going in the stadium before the game even starts.

The idea of getting rid of the reserved seating came from watching the Paint Crew. They saw how committed this group was to getting their seats. People, including my friends and me, would camp out before the games to get the best view possible. I wonder if camping will be an option for the football games too. There really is no good spot up at Ross Ade to do this. We would have to worry about the larger amount of students and also the student/tailgater interactions. It just doesn't seem as safe of an atmosphere to me.

While the camping was fun for basketball, I know I was really looking forward to getting reserved seats next year. I wanted to be able to show up late and still have my seat there. I would also be able to leave freely at halftime. With basketball camping, we got to go inside to enjoy the game. While the first football games won't be cold, the weather will change by the end of the season. I don't want to have to wait outside for a few hours to get seats, and then stand in the cold another three hours during the game. It's just asking for people to get sick, but I know I will still do it. My friends and I are dedicated to our Boilers, and we want to be there to support them in their victories and losses.

Tickets aren't all you get for being a VIP. There are also some other great benefits. You can earn points by having your card scanned at each event you go to. These points then add up to get you prizes. I have already gotten the free shirt for 8 points and am almost to the 24 point level. Here I get a $25 gift card to Arby's. Now doesn't that make you think? You also get prizes at 48, 60, and 85 points, but I don't think that I'll get that high. I can always try for it next year.

You can start purchasing your VIP passes for the 2009-2010 school year starting March 23 at purduesports.com. Only 5,000 passes are available, so get one while you can. The cost is $225 which I think is a great deal for all you are getting. You are only in college for so long, so why not get the most out of your experience? I think that being able to support our great Big 10 teams here at Purdue is a wonderful opportunity. The memories that you make at these events will last you a lifetime.

Afterdark

Many times the activities that occur after dark are pretty sketchy, especially those on a college campus. However, the event I attended on Monday night was not. It was actually uplifting to the student who came out. That's right, Afterdark came to Purdue.

Afterdark is a religious convocation that goes around to different universities in the country. After a concert by Dave Barnes, Joe White came out to tell us a story. This story was about a Roman cross maker from 2,000 years ago. He was instructed to build a cross for a man who called himself the Son of God. This man was even going to come back to life after He had died this painful death. The cross maker could not believe it, but he was just doing his job. He would wait and see what happened.

This cross that Joe White built was symbolic of the one Christ was crucified on so many years ago. He told us how our debt of sin had been paid on this cross. He even had a sheet of some of his sins that he had committed. He took it and nailed it to the cross for all to see. Then we were given the chance to do the same. People wrote their thoughts and feelings on index cards and brought them up to the stage. There were guys up there with hammers and nails to nail these cards up. The cross was packed. It was amazing to see all these things that were standing between the students and God be handed over to Him.

As I think about this, a verse from the hymn It Is Well with My Soul by Horatio Spafford and Philip Bliss comes to my mind.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

That is just what we did that night. Our sins were nailed to the cross, and Jesus had died to take these sins from us. The sins of the whole world were put on Jesus that day that He died. He knew it was coming, but He still chose to endure this punishment. Why? Because He loves us and cares so much about us. I know that there is no way for me to ever come close to repaying Him for this. All I can do is live completely for Him, and that is what I strive to do with my life.

Senior Night

Wednesday night was the final home basketball game for four of the Boilers. Bobby Riddell, Chris Reid, Nemanja Calasan, and Marcus Green played their last game in Mackey Arena. The players were joined by their families on the court for a special presentation before the game. Well Calasan was joined by his American family and girlfriend since his real family couldn't make the trip from Srbinja, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Members in the Paint Crew even dressed up like and made signs for their favorite players. There was a giant twenty dollar bill with Green on it, a couple guys painted for Calasan, another guy with an afro and American flag shirt for Reid, and numerous buckets for Bobby "Buckets." The fans couldn't be more proud of their seniors.

After this presentation, the game against Northwestern began. We were favored to win this game since Purdue (11-6 Big Ten, 22-8 Overall) is number two in the Big Ten standings, and Northwestern (8-9 Big Ten, 17-11 Overall) is only number eight. While we couldn't win the Big Ten title thanks to Michigan State's victory over Indiana on Tuesday, surely we could lock in this win on Senior Night.

While the passes and ball handling were not that great, we still managed to stay ahead in the first half. Things looked promising especially after our big run. We went into halftime with a seven point lead, but then it all changed when the second half started. We got behind and never really took the opportunities we had to come back resulting in the 64-61 loss.

We had several chances to make free throws, but they just weren't going through the net. Only losing by three, I can't imagine how the players felt about this. They probably are saying to themselves, "If only I would have done this at this time, or if only I would have made that one shot." I know that I would feel as if the loss was all my fault. Even the player that sat the bench probably wondered how the game would have turned out if they had gotten some playing time.

Don't get me wrong. I know the players work hard in their practices and spend numerous hours going over different drills and plays. In no way could I do any better than they did. I wouldn't even stand a chance. It was just the fact that our record was so much better than theirs, and the crowd was so excited to see this match up on Senior Night that made this loss so disappointing and frustrating.

The fans are so used to seeing wins especially at home that we didn't really know how to handle this. I know that at some points I was getting so frustrated that I just wanted to get up and leave. That's what some of the other "fans" did. I could not let this frustration overcome my pride for the Boilers. I needed to be there to support them no matter what happened.

In the last few minutes of the game, it looked as if we might be able to pull it out, so it was a good thing that I didn't leave. We cut their lead down to two and had to chance to get ahead with those free throws that we missed. However, Northwestern increased their lead by making their free throws at the very end bringing them to the point where we could not catch up in the last seconds.

Even after this loss, I still have my love for the Boilers. There is always next year for us to win the Big Ten Conference title. I will definitely be getting tickets again. For me, the games were always a highlight to my week, and I can't wait to see how our next group of Boilers will add to the team.

Ruckus is No More

I don't know how many of you knew about Ruckus, but I loved it. It was a ad-supported site where college students had access to legally download over 3 million songs and all for free! It was great, especially for poor college students, and greatly decreased illegal file sharing. The only thing is that the songs were DRM protected, so you could not transfer them off your computer and on to your iPod or other portable music player. While this was kind of sad, it was still nice to get this free music. That is, until the unexpected happened.

A friend of mine was telling me about this group that she really liked, but I had not heard of them. Naturally I thought, "Hey, I'll just look them up on Ruckus." Unfortunately when I went to the site, it said that the service will no longer be provided. I was shocked. I didn't see this coming. It happened without any warning at all. I checked to see if my music that I already downloaded still worked. Some of it did, and some of it didn't. With this service, you had to renew your license to each song each month. All you had to do was sign into your account, and it would automatically renew them. Once the site shut down, you could no longer sign into your account. This means that once the license is up, the songs can no longer be played.

This all happened about a month ago, so the rest of my songs will expire on March 3rd. This makes for a very sad day. I have kept a list of the songs that I have now, so hopefully I will be able to find them somewhere else. Maybe I'll just break down and buy the CDs on ebay, Amazon, or another site where I can get them cheaply. If anyone knows of another site where you can download free and legal music, I would greatly appreciate it if you let me know about it.

Camping Adventures

Well, I did it. I survived the pregame campout. It was actually a lot warmer than I thought it would be, at least in the tent. We had all planned on freezing, so we brought as many layers and blankets as we could. It turns out we only needed about half of them. I got so warm walking over to Mackey that I had to take off a layer once I got there. I think two of the biggest reasons we stayed so warm were that we had a layer of sleeping bags underneath our own to cushion the ground and keep the cold cement away from our bodies and the fact that we had four people sleeping in a three man tent.

We also got some free food perks for our dedication. About one o'clock in the morning, the blow horn siren went off. At first I thought we were having a roll call to make sure that all the groups still had their representative and tickets there. Instead, they told us that it was not a roll call, and Regions Bank across the street was giving out free hot chocolate and popcorn. Of course we were going to take advantage of this opportunity. Another girl and I stayed in the tent while the others went to get food. When they came back, they also had Jimmy John's sandwiches with them. We then all decided that we loved Regions Bank and were all going to switch our money to there, ok maybe not.

The campers got another surprise for breakfast. The basketball team came out with boxes of donuts for everyone. Unfortunately, I had been relieved from my shift and had not come back yet when this happened. At least some of my group got to enjoy it though. Maybe I will be luckier this weekend when we camp for the Purdue vs. Ohio State game.

You may ask how much sleep we actually got with all the excitement going on. The next morning, my friends all said that they slept for most of the night. The only time they really woke up was for the roll call at 3 a.m., but they were still half asleep for that. I was up for most of the night though. The people next to us decided to camp out without a tent, and talk all night. I'm pretty sure they had been drinking, but their stories were pretty funny to listen to.

Once I finally got to sleep, I was woken up by a strange sound. At first, I wasn't sure what it was, but then I figured out what it was. It was rain. Immediately, I thought about our neighbors who were camping without a tent. Then I remembered them asking someone to find them a tent and hearing a bunch of crinkly noises over there earlier. They must have gotten one. The next morning when we looked over there we saw that they had a little one person tent set up, and I'm glad that they did. It would have been awful to sit outside all night in the cold rain.

After my night shift, I went back to my room to get ready. Since I had more time than I needed, I decided to lay down on my couch for a little bit. Since I was suffering from lack of sleep, I dozed off. I was so tired that my dad called me eight times, and I missed every single one of them! Luckily I woke up in time to make it back for the game. That would have been awful if I slept through it. I just had to really hurry to get ready.

My friend also texted me while I was sleeping. She said that while they were taking down the tent, it started to rain/sleet/snow, and they had gotten soaked. I asked if she wanted me to bring her some dry clothes, but she had already gotten a hold of her roommate to bring them some. The Mackey security was also really nice and let everyone inside for awhile to keep them out of the weather.

Overall, I think we all had a lot of fun on our "camping" trip even with the not so desirable weather and lack of sleep. One girl from our group even won the Fazoli's Dance for Your Dinner competition during halftime. I don't know about the rest of them, but I know I can't wait to do it again this weekend!