November will be a busy month.

To start with (of course I have my priorities in order), we have four taiko performances in November. The Woodlands, College Station, New Orleans, and Alexandria, LA. For the non-Houstonians, I’ll note that The Woodlands is the only one of those in the Houston area, and even that’s fudging a little. We’ll be spending a lot of time on the bus, is what I’m saying. The aging, decrepit bus. I hope it holds up. If it doesn’t … well, I hope it holds up.

We usually have our intensive practices on Sundays, but now that we’ll be performing every weekend, we’ll have to spend more weeknights practicing. Practice-show-practice-show-practice-show. It would be a bit stressful if I didn’t love it so much. Instead it’s exhilarating. Plus who doesn’t love road trips? Every trip, I’m reminded of how much taiko is like quiz bowl or math club. My friends are just a different kind of weird than they used to be, that’s all.

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