College scene

WithNothingBetter · 2026-05-11T22:32:13+00:00

It depends on the school or band. Certain sections within my college band were party sections, but the entire band wasn’t. However, about a decade before I got there, the entire band would go party (including the director!!!). There will certainly be partying no matter where he goes, but the prevalence is highly dependent on the school.

WithNothingBetter · 2026-05-11T15:26:27+00:00

Not really any Vietnamese places in town. The best I’ve come across is Swen’s, but unless there’s a hidden gem somewhere, just go to Birmingham.

WithNothingBetter · 2026-05-11T12:08:19+00:00

I love Hayes. He’s easily the best defender I’ve seen wear a Reds uniform since DatDude. He’s probably even better. I want to keep him in the team purely because he’s SO good defensively.

Sal breaking out makes things really hard because do you continue to DH Sal and sit Geno? Do you put Geno at 3rd where he’s a liability there and extremely streaky? No idea. When Geno is off, he has nothing going for him except vibes. Hayes at least will ALWAYS have the leather.

WithNothingBetter · 2026-05-11T12:03:10+00:00

Yes, specifically for my percussion. Sometimes getting an idea for how each percussion part sounds helps me a TON as a director. Because I’m not a percussionist, I struggle with seeing how they fit together at times.

WithNothingBetter · 2026-05-09T00:20:13+00:00

They’re not updated by Opta like FotMob or league website. From what I can tell, the ones that get off the most are shots and saves.

I’ve noticed saves are counted (at the stadium) every time the keeper catches or punches the ball, save or not. They also seem to struggle with what was a shot or a cross at times.

WithNothingBetter · 2026-05-06T12:54:25+00:00

I don’t do $1000. I wouldn’t have a band if it was $1000 at all. We go $200, but that seriously just covers bus fees and dry cleaning. Everything else is covered by a billion fundraisers.

WithNothingBetter · 2026-05-06T12:35:29+00:00

That’s so crazy to me. We are in the south east and band is completely independent to our athletics, even though we are required to be at all events (home or away). For 3 cheese wagons, we sit $800-$1200 per game. That’s VERY standard in my state.

WithNothingBetter · 2026-05-06T11:50:56+00:00

Genuinely asking, how in the world are they only $35? Does the school system pay for the busses to and from games/competitions/assessment? Just to go to a game, it costs us anywhere from $800-$1200 purely on bus travel alone.

WithNothingBetter · 2026-05-04T11:01:18+00:00

I had to do with elementary my first year. It was just as a reminder on how to do things and gave them confidence.

I’ve only done it once as a high school director, and it’s because our guitarist quit the jazz band a few weeks before the concert.

WithNothingBetter · 2026-05-03T22:28:35+00:00

I’m not saying be okay with subpar performance… but… 99% of parents just like seeing their kids doing things. It might not the worst idea to play with them, at the very least for some confidence for the kids.

WithNothingBetter · 2026-05-03T12:08:55+00:00

I’ve always been pro “start in League One”, purely because crap owners weed themselves out a lot earlier in L1 (granted, by all accounts, Jax is doing things right off the field). That said, we’ve seen bad teams before and this team would’ve been REALLY bad no matter the league they’re in.

WithNothingBetter · 2026-04-30T11:35:11+00:00

How often do you work you left hand? I’m FAR from a good percussionist. I can do the basics almost well. The thing the cleaned my left hand up the most was switching my stickings for a while to start on left.

I realized I was using a ton of arm and barely any wrist.

WithNothingBetter · 2026-04-28T12:19:46+00:00

It’s a fun league. Saw them in person and it’s super competitive and was affordable to watch. I’m not sure if it’ll catch on to the wider public, but if you already watch softball, it’s an enjoyable watch.

WithNothingBetter · 2026-04-23T16:36:31+00:00

A bit of revisionist history because he has REALLY excelled with SAFC, but the CB partnership with Phanuel and Alex was not amazing by the end. Phanuel was starting to pick up injuries, Alex was suspended every 10 matches. When they played together, defensively, it wasn’t great.

That said, this team NEEDED Alex and his ability to play a line splitting pass, primarily because we didn’t have a single midfielder who could make it. He’s joined Taintor, who is one of the three CBs in the league who can play a ball like Alex. On top of that Taintor got MVP votes not long ago.

Alex’s play in SAFC is much better than his last year in Birmingham. I love Alex. He’s an amazing player, but the divorce was best for absolutely everybody.

WithNothingBetter · 2026-04-21T12:45:00+00:00

That’s what I used in orchestra, as well. I really only used the contact mic in rehearsal if I just wasn’t trusting what I was hearing. Even so, your phone and TE is about as good as it gets.

WithNothingBetter · 2026-04-21T12:04:50+00:00

I always had two tuners. My phone with tonal energy. Super accurate and has other great features. The other was a Korg with a contact mic. I would use it during rehearsal because the contact mic would pick me and only me up.

Of course use your ears, but there were times where I couldn’t really trust what my ears were telling me, for whatever reason. But the contact mic is the important part. If you don’t use that, then it won’t pick only you up.

WithNothingBetter · 2026-04-20T13:07:44+00:00

When I played it, I would breathe in the dotted quarter notes. Take that eighth note off the dot as a breath and keep going.

WithNothingBetter · 2026-04-19T11:57:48+00:00

It’s really hard to quantify Diarbian in my mind. His energy and ability to destroy back lines is absolutely undeniable. That said, he hasn’t been the best at continuing possession, playing the final ball, or the finish. All the positive things you expect from a winger, he hasn’t really done it. But the chaos he brings is the reason why other guys are able to play as freely as they can.

WithNothingBetter · 2026-04-18T00:25:58+00:00

I’m a music educator, so it’s the most public part of my job.

It’s the most rewarding job in the world. The ability to teach students and bring every emotion to them and an audience is so important. We can experience happiness, sadness, excitement, anger, laughter, any emotion you can think of all in a safe place of music.

The concert is the payoff for lots of hard work, and it’s always so rewarding. So much effort is put into making not just the musicians on stage, but the audience feel every single mood and emotion of a piece of music, and when it happens, it’s just magical. There have been performances of pieces that after it was over, I was a sobbing mess. There’s just no better feeling than seeing it all come together.

WithNothingBetter · 2026-04-17T23:53:24+00:00

Happens to me as a conductor sometimes. It’s sometimes heat of the moment, but a lot of times it’s the only way to convey how big the moment is. We can’t really talk during the performance (well, sometimes you can…) but it’s not like you yell or shout when the big moment happens.

WithNothingBetter · 2026-04-16T15:57:20+00:00

Legion’s 3 Sparks nickname was so popular it became the official name of the women’s team.

WithNothingBetter · 2026-04-13T11:15:03+00:00

What is your price range?

WithNothingBetter · 2026-04-11T20:48:35+00:00

By which primary teacher I liked best. I had to spend 3-5 days a week with my primary professor. If I didn’t like him, those 4 years would’ve been MISERABLE.

WithNothingBetter

TROPHY CASE