The past few days have been extremely busy. As I was explaining my plans to Chad (the building RD) on Friday, he commented that the weekend was set up like a tribute to Bolt and Shroud. I hadn’t thought of it that way before he mentioned it, but it makes a certain amount of sense. I’ll attempt to summarize:

Friday: Birding for Bolt

I had never been birding before, but it sounded interesting, so I decided to give it a try. A number of the regular birders here at LeTourneau had been wanting to go birding again this semester, but were lacking transportation to do so. I was able to supply a vehicle, so Courtney, Andrew, Michaela, Ludwhig, and I left for the highly acclaimed Iron Bridge Road at around 5 pm. Courtney and Andrew were the main birders, Michaela had been before, and, like me, it was Ludwhig’s first time.

After some confusion about the directions and getting yelled at by factory workers for going the wrong way on a one way street, we finally reached our destination. Unfortunately, the location we had chosen is some sort of industrial site (some kind of oil or gas well). It had lain dormant in previous years, but today there were semis and other heavy machinery barreling down the road every few minutes. Needless to say, this did not provide the best opportunity for quietly observing birds in their native habitat. We were able to find a road further along that was not in use, but were still unable to see very many birds. Even so, we had a great time just talking and enjoying being off campus and in the middle of God’s creation. I look forward to giving it another try soon. For all you birders out there, my life list now reads:

1. Wild Turkey (from home)
2. Cattle Egret
3. Great Egret
4. Rock Pigeon (while waiting in line for the activites on Sunday)

Impressive, no?

Saturday: The YellowJacket for Bolt and Shroud

On Saturday morning was the Longview Blitz, a campus-wide community service project. 41 and G2 (our sister floor) went to Hope Fellowship church and helped them clean up their current grounds as well as prepare a recently purchased property for construction of a new building. After the Blitz, several 41ers went to look at a garage sale that was going on next to the church. I noticed a nice couch that would go well in my room, but it was marked at $135 (or best offer). There were also two chairs next to it, one marked for $35 and one for $25. There was no way I could afford to pay full price for the couch, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask, so I offered $20 for it. I was flatly refused. However, Slope and I got to talking to the lady that was running the sale and after a while, Slope mentioned that we were LeTourneau students. That changed everything. She said that instead of the marked prices, we could just have all three pieces of furniture for $50! We quickly agreed, so now Slope and Spork each have a new chair, and my room has a very nice couch.

In the evening, I went to the post Volley Ball game Solheim Bash. Why? Because I was assigned to cover the event for The YellowJacket. Yes, it’s true, I am now an official staff writer for the campus newspaper. I’m not sure how this will all turn out, but it was fun being a reporter, and I think the experience of writing in a journalistic style will be good for me. I haven’t started writing the actual article from my notes yet, but the deadline is Wednesday evening, so it will happen soon.

Sunday: Spree for Shroud

Sunday afternoon began the culmination of about a month of planning. 12 LeTourneau students from 41, G2, and D3 piled into three cars (provided by Bubbles, Slope, and myself) and were off to Dallas to see The Polyphonic Spree live in concert. Those in attendence were: Smee, Karen, Slope, Courtney, Michaela, Ludwhig, Pebble, Bubbles, Schmorgan, Slope, Melby, Bungee (who met us there), and me. We stopped by Schmorgan’s house first for an excellent home cooked meal and then went to a Barnes & Noble to kill the remaining time before the show started. We got in line at about 6:30 pm, the doors opened a little after 7, and the festivities began after 8. However, there were two opening bands before we got to see The Spree. I don’t even remember their names, but, while a few songs showed promise, they weren’t all that great.

Finally, the curtain lifted for the final time, a roar went up from the crowd, and all 20-some members of The Polyphonic Spree entered, and stood, silent, with their heads bowed. Then, harp music began. This was not canned music, The Spree have a harpist (with a full sized harp) as a normal part of the band. It was beautifully done, and the crowd listened (relatively) reverently until he was finished. Then Tim DeLaughter, the lead of the band, stood up gave an introduction. It was obvious he was glad to be back home in Dallas and the crowd loved it. They opened with a piece from a movie they just did the score to, so nobody was familiar with it, but then the trademark opening of Together We Sound Amazed from their second album kicked in at full volume and the crowd was immediately completely into the show.

I had a great time, and it helped that I knew the lyrics to most of the songs. Slope was standing beside me and we were both jumping around, singing, and waving our arms with the best of them! The band was absolutely crazy on stage, but still managed to maintain musical precision. There are some incredibly talented people in the band to be able to perform in those kinds of conditions. At one point, right in the middle of the show, the percussionist decided to stab one of his drums to death with his drum stick, stick his head in it and do a hand stand on the front of the stage. He then ran around with it on his head for a while, and even put it over the lead singer’s head. This didn’t interrupt the show at all, Tim just draped the microphone into his newly aquired drum-head and kept singing. This sort of craziness was the rule, not the exception, and everyone on stage and in the crowd loved it.

Would I go to another one? I haven’t decided yet. Probably not if there were two opening bands again, one is plenty and it just takes too much time when we didn’t even come to hear them. I’d probably also bring ear plugs for myself; It was so loud that my hearing was still going back to normal throughout today.

Well, I think I’ve more than made up for my absence in writing, and it’s time to go to a YellowJacket meeting.

The Polyphonic Spree concert in pictures.
Photos courtesy Ludwhig.