Bell Festival

Last weekend I went on a handbell festival with my church. When it comes to handbell festivals they can either be a new invigorating experience, or a total nightmare depending on your attitude....haha just kidding. I had a good time though it was extremely tiring. It was also tempting. You see for the past week I've been trying to avoid all sugar. No, I don't have some horrible disease that restricts me from eating sugar. I just feel that it'll benefit my overall health if I avoid it. Well it's a good thing that I was determined to avoid it because it seemed like sugar was jumping in my face just daring me to eat it the whole trip. When we first got there we ate at Fudrucker's, and I ended up getting some chicken strips (they looked safe enough). So while I was sitting there eating my chicken strips everybody else was drinking these huge milkshakes right in my face. I managed to suck it up and ignore it though. After all, those milkshakes were expensive. Why waste money on crap like that?

It just got harder from there. While we were in rehearsal our director decided to pass out free chocolate candies to everyone. He thought he was being nice. Not to me he wasn't....This was even more tempting than the milkshake because it was absolutely free. I was also absolutely sugar starved cause I hadn't had any for almost a week. Things got worse from there when the people on either side of me opened their candy and started eating them. The delicious chocolate fumes wafted over and hit me full force in the face. I almost started to cry...Somehow or another I managed not to eat them (though it took a lot of brunt force on my part to say the least). I was already in a crabby mood anyhow. Not that I normally didn't enjoy myself playing bells, but after playing 2 1/2 hours straight I was about ready to punch the next person who dared to mention handbell playing.

Anyways, if you're wondering what the bell festival is here's what happens in it. A whole bunch of church handbell choirs get together in this large conference center and play bells (yes, all at the same time). We practice our heads off for hours, then we have a performance and like 2 people come to watch. (Okay more than that but not many more). So as you can imagine I was a little annoyed at having to work so hard for well, not that much.....Oh well. It was still pretty fun though. However, once we had played the last note of the performance, I almost started to sing the Hallejuah Chorus and I vowed never to touch another handbell as long as I lived (I said that last year by the way). If you're wondering what happens after the festival ends, here's what happens; pandemonium. Everybody starts packing up at once. Folders fly everywhere, bells are tossed back and forth (it's a wonder somebody doesn't get knocked out by one of them), people get in each other's way, which results in nobody getting anything done very quickly, etc. etc. The annoying thing was, our director insisted that he and two other people could pack up all the stuff alone. (I can see why he said that. It's chaotic if everybody tries to help at once). The trouble was the people I was riding home with insisted on helping him anyways. I felt like yelling, "Come on people. If the man doesn't want any help then for heaven's sake don't give him any!". But I didn't yell that. I just stood there fuming with frustration because I really desparately wanted to get home because I was sleep deprived, sugar deprived, and CRANKY.

Well, we finally got everybody back on the van and headed home. Another bell festival come and gone, and I can't say I'm sad about that fact. Don't get me wrong. I had quite a good time. But hey, bell festivals aren't exactly what I call highlight of the year material.....haha

Later