Homecoming Weekend/Script Kent

After Kent State's homecoming last weekend, this weekend was Roosevelt's homecoming among many other things. It got off to a pretty interesting start on Friday, but everything worked out. My brother Andy and sister-in-law Heather were in town for the weekend for my brother's 10-year reunion, we had a pretty fun ward activity on Saturday night, and then a full day Sunday with church and having lunch with Andy and Heather at Grandma and Grandpa Derby's before Andy and Heather headed back to Maryland.

First item of business was Friday morning. I was supposed to attend a music conference in Cleveland as part of my class and the fact that we were missing regular class for NEOEA (Northeast Ohio Educators Association) day. I'll admit that I wasn't exactly thrilled about going, not only because of the early start to the day but just the thought of sitting through another conference. Professional conferences are a great tool, but like anything, too much can be a bad thing. Having just attended a conference two weeks ago on top of a full-slate of classes, I'm a bit burned out by music right now beyond pleasure! Despite that, I was up and ready and out the door on time. I had no problems getting to downtown Cleveland even at 8 AM as Cleveland has a pretty extensive highway system, so rush hour isn't really that bad at all. Sure, there are traffic jams and slowdowns, but nothing even close to what I've experienced during rush hours in the Washington, DC area or Salt Lake City. Backtracking, Thursday night I was driving back from campus and heard a noise that sounded like something bouncing around in the hood or on the side of the car. When I got home I checked and didn't see anything, so I figured I must've hit something that rolled around. If only it had been that simple! Just as I was getting downtown and running into my first traffic slowdown, I noticed my steering was getting stiff. As I noticed that I looked at my dashboard to see that engine temperature already in the "red zone" meaning it was pretty hot, so my "hot engine" light was on as well as my "low volts." I got a little nervous because I needed to pull off and wasn't sure I could make it to the exit. Thankfully I did and pulled off (not so easy without power steering!), immediately shutting the car off and opening the hood. I would come to find that the noise I had heard was a belt breaking; the belt that pumps water to the engine. So, thankfully I have AAA (thanks Grandma and Grandpa!) so I called them and had it towed back to Kent. I was surprised how fast the tow truck showed up (30 mins) and the driver was a nice guy, so we had a good conversation on the way to Kent (about 45 minutes from downtown Cleveland). Come to find it was indeed the belt that turns the pump, but like anything with a car it's never quite so simple. It also broke some other things when it broke apart. All in all, I spent $860 after labor and some other maintenance things I added that needed to be done now or soon anyway. While I waited for about 3 hours, I wrote the blog "Fall Colors" since the dealer (Montrose Chevrolet in Kent) had wireless internet and I had my laptop. How convenient!

Left: Roosevelt Stadium homecoming crowd on a perfect night for football; Right: Rough Rider Marching Band at halftime for homecoming festivities with visitor's stands in the background; Below: Aunt Sue, cousin Lindsay, Katie, and Me at the Roosevelt game.

Things got much more fun Friday night as I attended the Roosevelt homecoming game against Crestwood. It also happened to be the final home game of the regular season. There is a chance we could get another home game in the playoffs if we move up one spot...we'll see. The great thing about homecoming is alumni get in free. For the first time this season, I also didn't attend the game solo as my sister Katie, cousin Lindsay, and aunt Sue were all at the game as well. Roosevelt played really well and won 35-7 (go Rough Riders!) to clinch at least a tie for the division title, but the real treat was after the game. It is tradition at Roosevelt for the marching band to perform "Script Kent" at the final home game each season. Script Kent is just like "Script Ohio" in that the band slowly spells out "Kent" in formation. The difference is that rather than just spell it out like Ohio State does, the band members wear green glow-sticks on their ankles and it is spelled out in the dark with the stadium lights off. It's really cool to watch and it never gets old. When I was in high school, it was done at halftime. Soon after I graduated, the school got new stadium lights that don't allow them to be shut off and turned back on quickly, so they moved Script Kent to after the game.

Left: Script Kent a little blurry but visible in the dark; Right: The band still in Script Kent formation after the auxiliary lights came back on

Andy and Heather arrived during Script Kent. We were hoping they would be able to get there right before it started, but it just didn't work out as the game ended a little quicker than I thought it would. Rather than come into the stadium, they went to my Derby grandparents house and I met them after the band show was finished. It was great having them here this weekend as it always is. Katie and I spent much of Saturday with them visiting the grandparents, touring (or attempting to!) Roosevelt, and visiting Aunt Sue and our cousin Jason. Andy was here for his 10-year high school reunion on Saturday night. While he went to that, Mom, Katie, and I went to a ward activity in Suffield where a member of our ward (congregation), Brian Ebie, hosted a bonfire and dinner followed by the 1925 silent film version of "Phantom of the Opera." What was cool was the garage it was in also has an organ inside, so he supplied improvised organ accompaniment as we watched, which apparently was pretty common when silent films were running. It was a pretty fun evening visiting with friends and just having a good time.

Left: Katie, Heather, Andy, Me, Mom at Derbys; Right: Andy and Heather with Grandma and Grandpa Derby at their house in Kent.