I'm gonna forego a long jotb since this is already gonna be a lengthy blog...
Q: Did you hear about the new Pirate Movie?
A: No, what about it?
Q: It's rated ARRRRRRRGGGGGG!
... *rimshot* Thank you Amy Jackson
Timeframe: Day 2. Target: Universal Studios.
One of the disadvantages of rooming with three trumpets that are in Jazz 1 is that they set the alarm damn early since they had to be up earlier. That resulted in us being up earlier. However, that didn't stop mike and i from snoozing in more. After battling my fatigued body, i braved into the shower. A cold one. Yup, that zing sure woke me up. When i got done, the jazz band people were just getting ready to leave. However, they weren't content with just leaving peacefully. Mike, who layed in the bed snoozing still, was prompted elbow dropped by dan, to his surprise. In pain, he merely rolled over and pull the covers over his head. Joe took care of that problem, and jon, with his massive strength, proceed to dump mike off the mattress. It was an entertaining sight, and i'm glad i wasn't caught in the crossfire. After the Jazzer's left, i waited for mike and we went and got breakfast. The "continental breakfast" at Hawthorn Suites is rather impressive. Well, good enough anyhow. Knowing the long day ahead of me, i packed down food while mike picked through the scant offerings. I'm not a picky eater as most of you know, so i had extra servings of each and everything. After satisfying my teenage guy hunger, i saw they had bananas. Mike and I waited around the kitchen to get extra bananas and we brought it to megan guthrie. We had a long running inside joke inside calculus class, cuz she always had bananas, and after she was done, dan would always steal the peel and wreak havoc. So mike and i knocked on megan's door, and these two girls came to answer, i think julia krough and some other blonde chick (Lindsey Jacquire sp?). We asked for "mom" ^_^ and they were just giving us the "wtf" look. Megan came, we handed her the fruits and she just went back in laughing. Later, she told me that her room mates were all questioning what it was about, and she said, and i quote, "it's a long story i dont really wanna get into." W00t for mike and I. Afterwards, we mosied about the hotel until the busses came to get the rest of us not privileged to be in jazz one. Ridin' out, i snoozed some more, but took notice of the LA highway. Man it must suck to live there. Traffic blows, and the skyline with the buildings were defintiely kinda hazy due to the smog. Lemme tell you about the smog, when our flight was approaching LA on the first day, i could tell we were flying into a cloud of it. It was THAT bad. In any case, our busfull of excited band nerds finally arrived, and we were about to unleash hell upon Universal Studios, California. Anxious, Megan, Mike, and I headed for the Blues Brother Stage to cheer for Shep-dawg and Jazz Band. Gettin there, mikey and i were freezing, the morning definitely hasn't warmed up yet, and our teeth chattered as we waited for Jazz band to rock the house. The performance began with the announcer mispronouncing our school name. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you the Millard (Meh-Lard) North Jazz Band... Anyways, i took many a photos of them and it was a fine performance. Kudos to all of the soloists and the entire band, you made us proud. Although, in the middle of the performance, we caught news that Jay Leno was here doing his infamous "JayWalk." Mike and I ran, and i got a fairly good shot of Jay upclose. Later we found out that Dr Werkheiser was actually interviewed by Leno and might appear on TV. rock. Afterwards, mike, megan, and I went to the "Mummy" haunted house while we waited for Jazz Band to load up their equipment and change. Hehe, mike and I made mom go first, and we definitely scared the jeebus out of her in the middle. hehe. I know we're bad people. We then progressed on towards the Nickelodeon BLAST zone. It's basically a lil playzone with water guns and other water toys for little kids. Mike, JP, and I devised a brilliant plan to ambush the jazz band people by raining buckets of water on them. We even enlisted megan's help to lure them into the trap. The plan worked brilliantly, but we failed to get the shot fired off in time, so the targets (Jon, Will, and Dan) escaped unscathed. Damn for the plan being foiled. In anycase, we all got together, and headed for the BACK TO THE FUTURE ride. Lemme tell ya, that was a pretty neat ride! You sit in a little cart that'll move and you look at a HUGE screen, it's as if you're in a De Lorean. Anyways, we pressed onward to find the Jurassic Park ride. To our surpise, we heard that the famous Steven Spielberg was gonna be here shooting a commercial, and we even saw the lighting and filming equipment propped up in a roped area. Despite our excitement, hunger won and we headed for some food since the Jurassic Park ride was temporarily broken. Ten dollars, a double cheeseburger, and a tourist trap later, we were ready to hop on to Jurassic Park. Hop on it we did, it was a decent ride, but we were fairly disappointed by the lack of splashing / water involved. We were expecting some good splashage since the day was heatin' up. On our way rushing out of Jurassic Park, we barely caught a glimpse of Steven Spielberg being rushed off, guarded by security, right after he finished his commercial shoot. didn't get a chance to snap a shot. damn. In any case, we proceeded on to see "Backdraft," which was a demonstration of hollywood fire filming technology. It was really funny, cuz the tour lady inside started by saying "Oh my, there seems to be a celebrity amongst us." We got all excited and scanned the dimly lit room for famous people, only to realize she had mistaken Andrew Wismer as Justin Timberlake. We all laughed. It was much amusing. Anyways, saw the demo of fire and all that jazz, then proceeded to the last room on that tour. It was a live room with all the fire gadgets and live explosions. that was ubercool and i could feel the waves of heat hit us, it kicked ass, and at one point, the floor we were standing on actually dropped a coupla inches. Everyone jumped, and the tour was over. Neat neat neat. Headin' out, dan and mike insisted on i come and get soaked with them under the previously mentioned Nickelodeon BLAST rocket. I reluctantly agreed. Gettin to the rocket and seeing how drenched i would be, i decided that i wouldn't enjoy having underwear stuck to me for the rest of the day and abstained from the stupid move. However, it was a splendid stupid move, and i've got photos to prove it. Dan, Britta, Jon, Mike, Taryn, and Sinem were dripping H2O for the rest of the day. As I sat watching them wring water out of their socks, Allie and Ann found me. Allie decided to join me on the bench to enjoy the sun, while Ann chose the evil ways. Yup, into the wetness she ventured, and all the people that just got relatively drier foolishly returned. It was amusement at its best. However, Ann decided that it was a perfect time to sit in my lap. Before i had a chance to escape, she sat in and gave me a big wet hug. Yup, that's right, Big ol' wetspot right on the crotch. Very attractive, i know. LOL. Seeing them relatively drier, we all headed around to bigger and better things. Yup, things such as the Coca Cola water park. More water....Woohoo. Itw as just a lil park where they have water guns and fountains littered about. I stayed dry, but snapped a perfect shot of Jon drinking a water stream like a perfect lil fountain angel. Continuing our stroll through universal, our team of wet high schoolers promptly located the master evil, ahem, Werkheiser. Allie and I sent our freshly dripping minions to bear hug him, and our surprise attack caught him completely off guard. Bwahahaha. coupla more group photos laters, we checked out the "Studio Tour" where they took us around on a tram and showed us filming spots and effects stages. That line was ass long and thus prevented us from making it to the Terminator Line, boo hiss. While we were waiting for that line, Allie decided this guy in front of us has been stalking us. And dont forget, we were 100% obnoxious, with yelling, splashing of water from wet people, and random MN Band duckcalls of "Ehhhyy!!" Finally hittin' the ride, we found the last cart to tour. Our guide definitely was cheesy. We saw a lot of pretty neat special effects stages, from King Kong, to the site of Jurassic Park 2, Grinch who stole Xmas, and a lot of props, Other places included the Mummy stage, and we found out they actually rained milk on movie screens so the rain droplets would show up. That was prompted followed by a "Singing in the Milk" Joke by our tourguide. I think jon wanted to strangle her, but she was on the first cart. To my amazement, she actually told the Amy's Pirate Joke (Which, conveniently, is the jotb). And guess what else happened on that tour, we got wet, again. Ann Jizba actually sat on the outside, but upon the first sign up approaching splashage, she dove for her dear life and landing on my lap, that's right, i actually got since she was no longer in the way to absorb the impact. Dragging our tired bodies off the Tram from Studio Tours, we made it just in time for the last showing of "Waterworld." Guess where we sat? You got it, the SOAK ZONE. A guarenteed area of being, appropriately named, soaked. Go us...That was a kick ass show, and i was most impressed by the choreography of the acting and the pyrotechnic special effects. The jetskis in the show drenched us a fair amount, but sinem and I cheered when we escaped a burst of water. High fives all around, baby. Following the show, we hurried to get some food... Ten dollars, Clam Chowder in a bread bowl, and another tourist trap later, we met up with the group that chose to be not soaked and headed for the gift shops. Looking for my customery hat purchase, I found none that i liked. Saddened, we left the park and collapsed on the bus. Dozing off and on during the bus ride, we finally got to our scheduled destination: Ripley's Believe-it-or-not Museum. Definitely rather worthless, i browsed through their pathetic collection of useless facts and headed for the Hollywood Wax Museum. That is, of course, taking note of the infamous "Penis Sheath" @ Ripley's. worthless, i say. Walking with Amy to the wax museum, we found something even more worthless than Ripley's. The wax museum. It was pretty much a tourist trap, and I hurried through it only to find my salvation right after the museum: Starbucks. Jon, Cat, Pirnie, Boyhands, Amy, and I found a table and just kinda vegged and talked, it was nice. MMmmmmm, Caramel Frappucino rocked my face off. Returning to the Hotel, I claimed a spot in the hot tub readily and proceeded to relax. That was promptly interrupted by girls, and I promptly responded with appropriate dunkings of: Sinem, Amy, Cassie, Allie, Ann, Catherine, Katelyn, and anyone else who was near me. Dan and I snuck up on Jon and gave him a good mouthfull of water. Tagteams of 6'4" boy and asian boy worked well. At one point, Ann and Sinem tried to double team me. They failed as i defintiely took both of 'em down simultaneously. I win. ^_^ Afterwards, I retired to my victorious castle of room 310. Found some ice for the room, and played pitched. What a surprise. We were all pretty beat, so I took a shower, and we called it a night.
End of Report on Day 2 of California Band Trip.