We ARE those old hags!

Mmmmmm....Chicago-Style Pizza. Just like being back in the Mid-West!

I had a great evening last night with two of my longtime color guard friends, Philip, and Mike Gaines (Mr. WGI Hall of Famer, himself!).

While in the planning stages, the evening was dubbed "Mid West Color Guard Night Out", and later "The Gathering of the Old Color Guard Dinosaurs". Way back in the mid-late 80s, we all used to march in the mid-west, and thought it would be fun to get back to our "roots".

I went all out, and proudly sported my "Friends Don't Let Friends Live in Ohio"t-shirt, underneath my dapper State Street Review member jacket. Philip and Mike both got a kick out of this.

We started out the evening with fruity drinks at the Orbit Room on Market. It's been a good long while since I've had a chance to hang out with Mike (he's' on the road so much nationally and internationally teaching guards still), but we all quickly found our way to talking about "the old days" and catching up on related gossip.

In true mid-western form, we went to a new Chicago Style Pizza restaurant in Hayes Valley. It didn't disappoint - Chicago Style Pizza the way it was meant to be: so chock-full of cheese, you're stomach (and no-doubt your arteries) are full after your first slice!

After dinner, we made our way to Philip's new pad for a few hours of complete and utter geekiness: we watched old WGI videos/DVDs dating back from 1982-1993. Oh, what a guilty pleasure that was: watching some good old fashioned color guards with two of my old color guard friends. Now, I admit that I've watched these shows a few times within the last year or so, but Mike and Philip claimed that they hadn't watched these in over 10 years.

The thing is, once we started watching them, it was if we'd gone back to the days when we used to do this as teenagers: We knew every movement, every toss, every break, every single minute detail instantly! All those years of watching those videos for hour after hour were still there in the back of our minds.

And the funny thing is, all the old emotions and memories came back too:

• Mike was still bitter about losing to being boo'ed during retreat for beating Sac in '89. (corrected on 3/5/07 WOW! How did I get that wrong!)
  
• I still had a personal grudge against the Raiders, and a certain amount of bitterness towards Alliance '91
  
• Philip was still (understandably) bitter about never having made finals, and thus, never making "the video". (yeah, that sucks)

Sure, we know we're old. We know we're "those old color guard hags" that still go to WGI each year. But, the thing is, those were our most formative years when we developed into the people that we became. That's the time when I developed my most close friendships. It's the ties that bind.

I love my color guard friends! I'm so glad that I still have so many in my life. We may be geeks, but at least we admit it! Say it loud, and say it proud!

Thanks for a great evening, guys.
Let's do it again soon!