Sometimes you're the windshield. Sometime you're the judge that everyone thinks is a loon or a drunk... and they might be right.

Wow. Ugh.

I am back in Nashville after a long-ass weekend in Missouri. I am really worn out, but am providing a very brief recap for your records.

Friday

I arrived just in time to hear the Miss0uri band rehearse. They are really sounding quite good, and have improved a lot in the last year. Knight had me write a tune for them earlier this year, and I got to hear them do that. That never gets old.

Dinner with most of the judging staff followed. We got full stomachs and half-drunk.

Saturday

7am wake-up. I wasn’t happy.

9am downbeat. I was ok… for a while.

In a huge judging error, I reacted to a dramatic change in the quality of bands right after lunch, followed by another dramatic change in the other direction. It was at this point that every band started sounding the same, and my gap never really recovered. The result was that one band that was sorta ok wound up making the final show. It was entirely my fault. The result for me was that:

1) I started thinking that judging shows might not be my, um, forte… and
2) I will never judge in the Great State of Miss0uri again.

I handled finals muuuuuuch better.

As promised, we wound up at the Heidelberg after the show. Due to social conventions and personal understandings, I can not reveal the events that took place after entering the establishment. Needless to say, we had a great time…

Sunday
…until around 1am.

I was out of bed at 6:30 this morning, and I was not happy.

In the Kansas City airport, it was revealed to us that Southwest had oversold our flight. They asked for volunteers, and I hopped on that shit. The result of this was that I arrived at home some seven hours later than I had planned. I also arrived at home with travel vouchers that will at least send me to Midwest for free.

Russ this Thursday. Random shit until then.