Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes

On Thursday, I bolted out of Nashville a little earlier than planned just to get a few extra hours of socialization into my first almost-autumn jaunt to Georgia. After a few drinks and laughs with the Sarvays, I crashed.

I made it to Athens around noon on Friday. I then got to do one of my favorite things. I sat in Walkers for four hours and finished a mid-season arrangement for Knight. I made it to band ten minutes late and enjoyed catching up with several people I hadn't seen in years. Afterwards, I hung out with Cub and Trina before retiring at a time that seems awfully un-Athens like.

Saturday morning, I was thirty minutes late to band. I ran into Tom Wa||ace in the parking lot, who "had my back" when I moved to Nashville hoping to get some work for a major arranging house in Nashville. I naturally haven't gotten any work from this place, so the conversation gradually moved from tentative to relaxed.

I saw the band and then spent about 45 minutes tailgating in the parking lot. It was amazing to me how old friendhsips that hadn't been touched up in a long time were back to normal - or more accurately, not normal but very good - in no time flat. It occurred to me in the middle of all of this that there actually might be more to game day than the band... or the game. I think I will explore this possibility in the future (I think I'm going to use a ticket - yes, a ticket - for this week's game. I have never done that before.).

Saw the game. I thought the band was fine... certainly better than I had expected, but with a few weak points that you might expect out of a young group. And yeah, there were some other weak points that weren't the result of youth. I am somewhat optimistic about the future of the group, assuming that the future goes the way I think it's going to. It's more complicated and personal than I choose to blog.

The game was probably as good as I could have expected. Good game. Way too much marketing (which probably won't change). "I'm Georgia" is stupid.

Post game, Trina and friends joined me for TN-FL. Boo. This was followed by yet another unreasonably reasonable bed time.

I'm now in Marietta after another fun evening with the Sarvays. Lunch with Sarah is soon, followed by a trip to the Gwinne++ Exhibition, then Nashville for two days.

In other news, I have recently learned that I will have to miss the Tennessee game. Damnit.

Oh... and this trip has really made me want to be able to buy a second place in Athens (after, of course, I buy a first place in Nashville). Guess I better do something about that, huh?