Story of the Bell Festival

Well I made it back from the bell festival yesterday, so I'm officially zonked. Here's a little bit about what went on.

We left Friday afternoon in our ever crowded church van. I attempted to read on the way, but the bumps and curves unsettled my stomach a bit so I figured I had better stop to avert disaster. We ate dinner at Fudrucker's, (a place I hadn't been since my former home) which was actually quite tasty. One thing about Fudrucker's is (if you didn't know) you take your order at the front counter and then they call out your name when your order's ready. Soo when I got to the counter I fully expected that they would ask me my name. Instead the lady asked me, "What's your favorite celebrity or cartoon character?" I was so caught off guard that I couldn't think of a single celebrity, not one. Since I really didn't want to stand there forever and look incredibly stupid, I finally said the first thing that came into my head, (which happened to be Mickey Mouse). It was only after that that I realized that they called the name of your celebrity instead of your real name, so a few minutes later a voice rang out, "Mickey Mouse your order is ready." *sigh* I guess not as embarrassing as saying Brittany Spears or something like that. Anyways, moving on.....

Friday night we played bells for three straight hours (yes you heard right). At first it all started out fine and dandy, but after several hours of playing the same few measures again and again, staring at the director, and having my wrists ache I had just about had enough. Not to mention I was absolutely freezing (someone had left the back door of the conference center open) and all I could think about was crawling into a nice warm bed and immersing myself in a novel that had absolutely no connection whatsoever to handbells. Well it finally all ended at 10:00 PM and let me just say that my friend and I were literally the first ones out the door.

The next day we had more rehearsals (surprise) that luckily weren't as long as the evening one. Then at lunch break (I was so hungry by this book my head was starting to spin) our director announced that we were all headed to the mall. If you haven't heard I absolutely detest malls with all my being. Not to mention it would be even more packed since it was Saturday lunch rush. But of course there was nothing I could do about it so that's where I ended up. I ate at Subway which was quite tasty, but first there was an interminably long line (I think the woman in front of me ordered about the whole menu) and then an attempt to find a table that was at least a tiny bit sanitary. But hey I haven't come down with a super virus yet so hopefully it will stay that way. =]

After I managed to survive the loud, crowded, claustrophobia inducing mall experience, we headed back to the conference center for the actual performance (which about 10 people show up for seeing as how all the bell choirs take up about the whole room). The actual performance went great, and for all my earlier complaining I'm still very glad I went. =] I do have to say though that I don't want to see another handbell for as long as I live (or until our next rehearsal anyways....)