Well, I got back from IMEA last night. What an exhausting but fun weekend. OK here is what happened.

Thursday.
We drove to Peoria to stay at the Par-A-Dice Hotel and Casino. Kids, if you are under 21, DO NOT STAY AT THIS HOTEL. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO THERE EXCEPT GAMBLE AND IF YOU CAN'T DO THAT, YOU ARE SCREWED FOR LEISURELY ACTIVITIES. OK so anyway, after we went to a concert that was OK (the high school's director picks music that is too hard for them!) And then we went to the exhibition hall and I swear that Jake, Cory, and I got all of the Eric Whitacre music within the first 10 minutes. After the exhibition we were deciding on where to go for dinner, and most of the guys and Cory decided to go to Hooters. So I am no longer a Hooter's virgin. But they all wanted to say it was my birthday so I could stand up on the table with 2 hot chicks. I didn't want to do it because I didn't want to be embarrassed and also it wasn't my birthday. If it really was my birthday that would be one thing. And then after that we went back to the hotel. OK. Now Brian, who's a freshman, said he wasn't feeling well. He actually wasn't; I think he's a hypochondriac. But anyway, being a nice guy, I sleep on the floor. He gives me a pillow and that's it. So me and Jake go down and we watch My Big Fat Greek Wedding. When we get back, Brian is sleeping on top of the covers diagonally. So I can't get a blanket. I DO NOT GET A BLANKET TO SLEEP IN. I was freezing. I was up until 4:30 trying to get to bed. Horrible horrible horriblie. Oh well. I had to get up about 6:45. So begins Friday.

Friday.
OK I got up and got dressed and stuff, and we went to the Civic Center to be there at 8. Me, Tim, Breanne, and Matt all went to watch Andre Thomas's rehearsal, but theirs didnt' start until 9 and the all state rehearsal started at 8:30 so we watched that. Then I went to another clinic, then I went to a reading session. Then I went to the Millikin booth for an hour. Then me and Christy went to go to a concert at 2 and meet people there, but they were leaving when we got there, saying the concert was so long and they were starvign so we went to Hoops and ate. That was EXCELLENT food. Then there were more seminars. Then after dinner we went to the jazz concert!!! And that was awesome. The Jazz Combo was the best. They had an electric violinist!!!! Vocal jazz was good, but the soloists weren't all that great. Some were really good, others weren't, so that kind of surprised me. Then after that we went back to the hotel.

Saturday.
After getting a much better nights sleep, we left at 7 so we could get breakfast before going to the civic center. I went to Kirby Shaw's clinic, that was good. Then I went to a seminar where I thougth there would be some free music, and there wasn't. It was a college choir and it wasn't all that great. Then I went to a meeting that I had to go to. It was really good. Then we went to Hoops again. It was me, Rachel, Jake, Chad, and Eric. What was funny is that we were all pretty much Republicans. And down the street on the corner there were anti-war protesters. So Eric and Chad went out to find a box where they could write "Bomb Saddam" on. They did then they stood on the other corner and yelled it. Jake fimed it. Then a few of them came over and asked if they were doing it as a joke, or if they would like an intellegent political conversation. And they are like "OH YEAH, we want an intellegent political conversation!" And they talked for like a half hour. After we got done eating we went back to the center. We missed the all-state concert so we played uno until we could go in. Bobby met up with us. So we all played. Then we went in. The concerts were good. Then Bobby invited me to his house for dinner, and so we went to his house to celebrate his birthday. We had a lot of fun. We played a game and had cake and watched a movie and played some video games. And then we went back to Millikin.

So overall a fun but exhausting weekend.