If you’re a regular reader, you know about my summer drum corps adventure and how far out of my comfort zone I am. I thought it would get easier as the summer went along, but, well, that’s just not happening. Instead, I just keep realizing how much further I need to go.
A couple of weeks ago in Pennsylvania, I had my best show of the season so far. But then I saw this picture (and watched video) and realized how much more performance I need. I should look like a pillaging warrior. Instead, I just look irritated, like the person in front of me in the grocery store express lane has 23 items in her cart.
Last weekend in Wisconsin, I tried to up my performance efforts. I had my absolute worst show so far. Thank god I don’t have a picture of the wrestling match I had on the field when my oar got tangled up in the pants leg of my uniform. Not pretty. And I messed up simple work that I’d been doing fine until then. Grrrr.
Just when I get a handle on one aspect of the performance, I lose track of another element. And my fingers, wrists, and forearms are alternating between sore, feeling like they’re on fire, and numbness.
Finals are Labor Day weekend, so I’m just trying to hold on through that and get better each week.
What does this have to do with writing? Not much, except that this is causing me to have my least productive writing summer in many years. Yikes. And that it’s that same overwhelming feeling you get when you’re trying to revise a manuscript, and each time you fix one thing, you totally screw up another. Trying to pull it all together into a cohesive story feels impossible.
But I’m having fun, too, in some weird, masochistic way. Even though I’m not very good at it, learning to spin has been really satisfying. I might be the worst guard member, but I’m miles from that first January night of practice. So at least it’s progress.
Here are a few other recent pics.
In our Valhalla angel-warrior uniforms
Ran and me after a show
Escorting the funeral pyre to pick up our fallen hero (I’m the oar on the left)
My nemesis: the oar
Advancing on the field with the giant Viking ship sail. That thing is heavy!