Reminiscing Freshman Year: 1998-1999

I'm having a lot of memories pop up as I'm getting ready for school for the fall semester.  Its different than last semester. Fall always drags out the nostalgia.  Its making me miss my MTSU friends like crazy.

I remember: 

1. That first day of band camp in the rehearsal hall with the drum line, where my confidence flew quickly out the window upon discovering that everyone played traditional...and really good.  

2. Sitting on the front stoop of Cummings Hall and watching my family drive away and not knowing how to feel.  

3. All the laughing I did with my good pals in the cymbal line and how little we actually read the music, opting instead for improvisation and flourishes…oh yeah, and hells of dancing.  

4. Seeing Josh's penis piercing and not really understanding how that could be pleasant for his girlfriend...I suppose I was really more amazed that I saw a penis than a piercing. 

5. Having an odd crush on the older guy in the bass drum-line who in retrospect was a major loser. I think he was like 27 or something.  Gross Molly, Gross. 

6. Sitting sober outside the dorm with Erin, eating fast food, being amazed with how easily and frequently she said the "f" word while watching upperclassmen bring the drunk freshman (with comically green-drunk faces) back to their dorm rooms from the Beaters and Wavers party.   

7. Cymbal line "practice" in Crystal's tiny apartment.  Pure shenanigans and laugh-crying (the fun kind).

8. That Jack Daniel's fruit punch thing that Maggie gave me.  

9. Meeting Lara for the first time while visiting Mags and being confused about the sacredness of clowning and being concerned that she didn't like me...because I sure liked her. I do believe that she was preoccupied by a douch-bag at the time.  

10. Many trips to the old library to use Frank, the DOS email system.   

11. My shitty 3-person overflow dorm room with the constant  parade of shitty room-mates and their shitty friends.  

12. Making out with this really odd blonde fella in the lobby of the dorm and thinking that there was too much tongue and that my face was too wet and just being completely embarrassed at being seen by the people walking by.  Ech.  

13. The way-too-old-to-be-a-Resident Assistant Murray-the-Hippy, walking or hitching with his pony tail, funky hat and bookbag (requisite pool stick hanging out) to The 'Boro to play pool. I'm positive now that he was ALWAYS HIGH.  

14. Walking with Erin to La Fiesta on one of those first weekends because mysteriously, anyone remotely local left town on Friday immediately following class or if they were lucky, Thursday night.  Murry, enroute to bar, stuck his head out the window of his ride and called me out as "West Virginia!".  

15. What was that green-yellow soda called, Volt?  Drinking way too much full sugar Coke-Cola and Volt.  Way too much, 30lbs-o-chunk-gained and yellow teeth too much. Know what I mean?  16. To this day, I still am not a big fan of mac-n-cheese thanks to too many in-room meals.  But I'd love to try microwaving cornbread or cake again sometime....pshhh hahahahaha.  

17. Being kidnapped by Crystal and driven to the far reaches of West TN for a slightly angst filled (yet totally fun) weekend with her family. I remember us driving to the grocery store to get VanCamps baked beans or pork n beans for Sunday supper.  Whichever it was, I got it flat wrong and I had to go back and exchange it.  I was so confused at the time at what in the hell the difference was and chocked it up to "it must be a TN thing".  There were many more of those moments in college. 

18. One hell of a weekend in the Smokey Mountains with Mags.  She took me every where.  We went to laser tag, Ripley's Haunted, Dollywood (I remember buying Castile soap), Dixie Stampede. It was wild.  

19. A generous ride to the airport on my way home for Thanksgiving by Amy and Crystal and listening to some new pop song ALL the way there.  That'd be Brittany Spears "Oops, I did it again" just for the record.  It was bad then and its bad now.  But the car ride was a hoot. 

20. Driving to West End Nashville with Mags one Friday night to get my nosed pierced.  I remember the guy who did it.  He had a dyed black hair, a ponytail, tight black jeans and a great sense of humor. He made lots of jokes about the Vandy girls who came in for their tramp stamps.  I miss that piercing. 

21. My bell bottoms, leather flip-flop thong sandals, and all my concert T's. 

22. Meeting Bruce in History of the Recording Industry, thanks to my trusty Van Halen shirt.  I also remember my digital metronome getting turned on by accident and the teacher walking around the room until he found it...IN MY BAG.  I couldn't even tell, thanks to my ears being blow out from Marching Band.  So embarrassing.  

23. The sound of nothing but the drumline, almost playing in unison, in a parking lot late at night.  I miss that sound.  But I still don't miss an asshole named Andy...or his Khaki pants.  But I do miss songs about his khaki pants.  Anyone have those somewhere?

24. Walking campus late at night and all alone with nothing but my Discman and the stillness of night to keep me company. 

25. Too many hours clocked on a charter bus.  

26. The annoying Snapple girl...she asked Erin to say "snapple" with her Cleveland accent. We all wanted her to die by the time we got home. 

27. Flirty boys who never made moves.  So annoying.  

28. Weird nights in weird hotels with many a drunk band member.  

29. My first trip to a catfish joint called Uncle Buds, wherein I witnessed someone order something called "Chicken Fried Steak" for the first time.  Serious culture shock, people. 
30. General adventures through the jungle of Murfreesboro...there were many.


I'm not sure where else to go with this...I just hope I keep remembering things and that you help me to do it. 

What do you remember?