Animals, Bears and Speed-drunks! Oh my!

***GRAPHIC CONTENT; BE FOREWARNED***

Drunkenness offers an interesting and numerous amount of personalities. One such personality, often in females, who get as drunk as they can as fast as they can, document their drunkenness, usually by photography, and create "drunk drama" that reaches no bounds, is a very common sight. I will call these people Speed-drunks for their haste in getting drunk and creating "drunk drama." Speed-drunks also tend to pass out early and face bitter "consequences" for their bitchiness and harsh treatment to the emotions of others. There are also the people who get as fucked up as they can on whatever drug they can find, simply for the sake of getting as fucked up as they possibly can. They are Animals. Animals, usually males, like to act as tough as they can most of the time. They usually attract the attention of the Speed-drunks. They bound together to keep order throughout the party. They reserve the right to kick you out and also the right to get you really fucked up. Another group, usually a single person, tends to be aggressive towards others, often for what appears to be no reason. I call these people Bears. Bears tend to be drug-fiends and think they have some sort of superiority over everyone in the room. They can be a real buzz-kill. There are also a group of people, of which I admire for their strong will. These are the Straight-men, although appear in both sexes. They watch over everyone, sometimes getting involved in "drunk drama" but catch people when they collapse into the floor. Animals, Bears, and Speed-drunks rarely help each other out, although Animals tend to stick together. The line in the sand is often drawn by Animals, picking a side in a drunken scuffle. 

What is interesting to observe, in situations where drunkenness is prevalent, are the senseless justifications for certain things to occur during a party. The road to drunkenness usually starts with cracking open a cool beverage and breaking the ice with old and frequent acquaintances. Soon after the first comes a second. Rinse. Lather. Repeat. Final destination: Drunkenness. Don't forget to leave your rationality at the door and have a safe trip. Begin "drunk drama." This continues until two factions of Speed-drunks starts something. This is where the night takes a turn for the...well, the awkward yet expected. The drunkenness catalysts the sincerity of these awkward yet expected remarks and, in most cases, all hell will break lose. The Animals will comment on the situation loudly, some showing Bear-like qualities, and the Straight-men observe from the corner, hiding their comments behind an empty hand. Time passes. More "drunk drama." Now, for out of happenstance the following incident were to happen, the mob takes a drastic turn toward anarchical tendencies. At this point in the night, it is very likely that a Speed-drunk has crashed, or passed out, on a chair, couch or even on the floor. Say, for instance, this particular Speed-drunk has instigated much "drunk drama" earlier in the night. And now for the mob's revenge! Someone, usually an Animal or Bear, under the effects of drunkenness will get the notion that whipping out their dick and sticking in the Speed-drunk's face and documenting this is a good idea. So he does it. The mob reacts! Cheers, gasps, moans, laughter, smiles, squinted eyes, turned heads, pictures taken. Straight-men do not react. Fear to stand up against a mob of drunk mentality, they have become Bystanders. The effects of drunkenness create a senseless justification for the wrong-doings of others. There is little one can do after the fact, including during the fact. Drunkenness or a senseless justification? Is there difference? Guilt is a faceless emotion to the Drunk. To be a Bystander, I feel guilty. I admit, I turned my head and moaned, even laughed in its grotesque absurdity. I feel ashamed for all parties. I feel ashamed at the Animal and sorry for the Speed-drunk. But I feel guilty to be the Bystander. My senseless justification for the mob's action was enough to turn a Straight-man crooked. 

Let's Wing It

Tonight, the robed choir performed with the UW-L concert choir for their final concert of the year. We were chosen because "we could represent the area with our choral sound," or something like that. With such a willing director, our choir is a community that tends to decide things unanimously. When we were informed of this prestigious honor, the choir was on board 100%. I, however, wasn't. I still can't exactly explain why. Perhaps it is because I'm sick of school and this is "just another thing" in the way of getting out. But I hardly think that is the case. 

Choir means a lot to me. The seniors in choir have had two different directors (in both band and choir) for two years each. Our previous director inspired me to love music. Choir took on a new appeal as a way to let out steam or describe the angst of the day through the songs that we sung. I loved it. And then we got a new director. We've had two, even better, years with him. And still, having never been invited to perform with a choir as talented and defined as the UW-L choir before, I still didn't want to do it. Reasons, still, unknown. 

Our director made the arrangements and the director of the UW-L choir, Dr. Walth, came in to work with us. This brought a newfound excitement to do it. We had this big-time director coming to work with US, a no-name choir that has never been seen as "worthy" in the music department (we have a shitty school with crappy facilities). I started to change my mind about it all. The song we were going to perform with the UW-L choir was a cheesy gospel-based hymn based on the New Testament. Dr. Walth arranged it. And after working on it repeatedly for about a week and a half, I started to wonder if this concert was really worth it for us to do. Again, for reasons unbeknownst to me. 

Gig day finally came. We worked on only two songs of the four that we performed tonight. This was rather different than for a normal concert, where we will rehearse each song to perfection multiple times in one day for a week before to make sure it is dead-on. This was, for lack of a better term, wung. But it went well. Overall, I had a great time performing in the recital hall of the CFA on campus. The vocal jazz performed there a month ago. It's a great room. And the UW-L choir is amazing. So it went very well. But I'll continue to wonder why I was so turned off at the start. 

Bridge of Disbelief

Such an interesting weekend indeed. Saturday was state solo/ensemble at UW-L. The vocal jazz got a 1, the highest score, and the Children, as I like to call my octet, got a 2. Great performances in both. I was very pleased in the end. The drive back from La Crosse climaxed at the Seven Bridges hiking trail outside of Holmen, WI. Justin and I walked down to the first bridge and started to drum on the beams. It created some interesting sounds. An old man and his dog came down for a walk just after we finished experimenting with the bridge. He asked us, "You boys fishing?" Standing, without a fishing in pole in sight, we replied "Umm, no. We're just taking a walk. (stifled expressions of disbelief)" It was an odd encounter. We continued up the trail and left it at that. I wonder what that man thought.