MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!

Ladies and gentlemen...I'm freakin' as happy as I've ever been!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! You can't begin to know...wait...you don't even know what the heck I'm talking about do ya?

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN--it is an OFFICIAL done deal. I have "verbally signed on the dotted line"...

I AM THE OFFICIAL DRUM CORPS INTERNATIONAL DIVISION II/III CHAMPIONSHIP ANNOUNCER!!!! Boooooooooooooooooooooooooo yah!!! Even if that means NOTHING to you, let me be the first to tell you that this is just a freakin' BLAST to get this gig. WHY!?!?!?!

BECAUSE.

That's why!!

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

There's a back story to this--where is there NOT a backstory to something in my life--but yeah. It's sort of cool. Because of the way I'm wired, it's these "strange" things I realize about certain events in my life. WHAT THE HELL TURNER???? You're babbling.

OK OK OK...let's start at the top. This past summer, I went to DCI World Championships in Madison, Wisconsin as a guest of my friend, John Donovan, publisher of Drum Corps Planet, and with the loving support of my wonderful wife. I was doing "live blogging" for Drum Corps Planet from, what I refer to as, "The Ninth Level" of the Camp Randall Stadium Pressbox. That's basically where the VIP's could sit in relative comfort and watch the show. Great vantage point.

Anyway--as the story goes--I flew in and out of O'Hare. When I was at O'Hare to leave, I ran into Tom Hope, the DCI-Pacific Coordinator. He basically runs all the west coast/western states drum corps shows, at least from the DCI side of things. I've worked with Tom several times over the years. He's a demanding, no-nonsense, "get 'er done" type person that expects a lot, and I like to work with him. Well, at O'Hare, we got to talking. He told me, and I quote (to the best of my memory), "By the way Turner, next summer, don't go anywhere." Curious, I said what most would say..."WTF?!?!?" No, I said, "Why?" He said there was a chance--and he made it clear he was NOT OFFERING ME A JOB..lol!!--but that there was a chance that there would be a need for DCI to have an announcer for the Division II/III Championships at Pasadena City College. He said for me to not make plans, especially during DCI Week. Well...duh...I'm not going to be anywhere BUT in Pasadena that week, but cool. He was opening a door for me, and I appreciated that. He said he'd get back to me...and that was that.

Fast forward to about 3 weeks ago, and the suspense was killing me. Now remember, the last time I talked to Tom was in August in Chicago. So I emailed him--typical Ryan H. flair--"Hey Tom, just letting you know that I'm camped out by my phone and I'm ready to rock and roll for DCI. Just say GO and I'm all over it." In typical Tom fashion, he types back almost instantaneously, "Name forwarded to Dan Acheson and Sue at DCI." Ahhhh. In other words Turner, PIPE DOWN. And at that point, I knew that there was literally nothing else for me to do. Besides, I have a ton of things on my plate anyway, so I put the DCI announcing possibility back on the back burner and plodded on. Today...THE CALL. A very nice sounding young lady by the name of Missy called, left a message, and I called her back a bit later, and not wanting to sound TOOOOOOOOOOOOO desperate, explained to her my extensive background in announcing. After 15 minutes of dissertation, all in one breath, she said "YOU'RE HIRED YA FREAK!!! WE'LL CALL YA LATER!!!" No she didn't....but she was laughing [at...with...] because I was VERY VERY VERY VERY enthusiastic. THE H WAS PLAYING THE GAME!! Ya know what I mean???

Good.

Well anyway...the story goes...we're chatting, and I tell her about the announcing I've done (SCSBOA, WBA, DCI-P, the old DCW, WGI, WGASC, The Voice of the Kingsmen, 911 Dispatcher, voice over for video projects, blah blah blah...I threw more acronyms at her than she's ever heard in her life). I guess she was impressed--oh wait, she was snoring. ANYWAY--she starts telling me a little about what they need, what they're going to pay for, blah blah...and she says, "So...are you available for the times we need you at Pasadena City College?" Uhhhh...yeah. There's no issue. THEN she says, "So, do you know where Pasadena is and everything?" And I say, "WELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL, as a matter of fact, I was born and raised in Pasadena. And you know what I just realized if you want to hear some truly useless trivia [really--I DID say that...ask her!! LOL!!!!]? The VERY first time I EVER announced...was AT PASADENA CITY COLLEGE!!! Would you look at that???"

Stunned silence.

Then the tentative, "Ohhhhh ahhh hanh...that's great. So...." IT WAS CLASSIC!!!

Oh I love it when I geek out and people go...WTF IS WRONG WITH THIS GUY!!?!?!?

Anyway...she hired me for that AND for the Bakersfield doo hickey show the weekend before...and THEN...

In typical "this just ain't enough for Ryan H. Turner" fashion, I say, "So, I'm good to go, but I'm not going ANYWHERE this summer, so, I know that you guys are going to be busy out here with shows and what not. And I'm sure Mr. Crocker will be busy [to my non-DCI readers, "Mr. Crocker" is Brandt Crocker, THE Voice of DCI for the past MILLION years]. But if he needs a day off, let me know. I'm your go-to guy."

The chutzpah. The noive.

More stunned silence.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhkay, I'll be sending you more information shortly." CLICK.

No...actually she thanked me for my willingness to help and looked forward to meeting me [you freaking whack] and...well...THERE YOU GO!!!! I'm in like Flynn baby!!! The call I've been waiting for. BREATH TURNER!!! Now...I'm going to go through all my yearbooks I've purchased off of EBAY and practice my ASS off reading show descriptions and getting names down...because I'm not going to do just a good job for DCI.

Oh no no no no. This represents to me a MAJOR door opening. HENCE, I will do a SUPREMELY PERFECT job for DCI.

So...share in my happiness...it doesn't come often, this kind of elation of reaching a major goal like this. And really...when you step back and look at EVERYTHING that you COULD be freakin' overjoyed about...this is really small potatoes. But for ME...it's the BOMB. I'm on Cloud 9.

NOW...to go put in my vacation time.

Oh....there'll be more updates coming shortly. Lots of OTHER news, including The Tale of The Laser Printer (and How The ATM Network Failure Almost Killed Me The Other Day), the SONGS drill experience (what?????), the WGASC experience, friends, my kids and my daughter's teeth....ANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNND....

MORE PICS!!! Because this blog ain't CRAP without pics. I just figured out how to get the pics from my digital camera to my computer. Oh yeah. Time for kid pics and sorts of fun things.

Thanks...

Now get OUTTA here.

I blame Lee Rudnicki for all of this...

I think the human body and mind can be pushed to extreme limits, especially the mind. I think we are WAY untapped in that department. THAT being said...I'm at that limit. Thank you. I'd like to get off the ride now. I've had fun. Thank you. Hello?? Anyone?? Can we stop this ride now? I just want to take a breather for 5.

Anyway...the reason I type this was because I came to work, and opened my email, and there was an email that is a GIGANTIC door opening for me in the world of the marching arts. Really and truly it is. Until I can get a formal deal on this and everything is kosher, I won't say for now what it is. But I'm HUMBLED AS HELL to be given the opportunity, and now, I'm putting my skills WAY OUT THERE FOR SCRUTINY. Time to put up...or shut the hell up. And how, pray tell, did I get into this situation?

Because...this opportunity I'm talking about falls right into the plans I formulated about 8 years ago--basic as they were--to build bigger the Empire of the H. MANY things have occurred over the last 7 years that I directly attribute to this goal. It really started as a plan to get my name out there NATIONALLY as both a drill designer AND a quality adjudicator. The dividends of setting a goal like that--stupid as it may seem to some of my non-marching arts-related readers--is actually a testimony to the strength of "focus" and goal-setting. I'll be honest. The timid, doubtful part of me is ALWAYS there trying to trip me up saying I'm not qualified, that I'm not good enough, that I can't nor will I EVER be as good as this and that or so and so. But part of this journey we go through in life is learning how to peservere. And I think I am doing just that, and sometimes, the payoffs are unbelievable. It seems like this past year and a half has been EXCEPTIONALLY telling in what's happened. And of course, my LOVE in life surrounds my participation in the activity of marching arts and pageantry...that's not to say I'm not grateful nor am I unhappy at the Fire Department, which is my career. But this career in the Fire Department fills the need for a stable and secure income, benefits, and protection for my family. I don't necessarily love it. As for the pageantry world, it fills the need for me to have a creative outlet and to give back to something that I think helped mold me into the person I am now.

SORRY...PREACHY ALERT...SORRY...didn't mean to get preachy.

But one more thing. You see--I only started a blog because my friend Lee Rudnicki had a great one going (still does--duh!!) and because a couple of people at work sort of pushed me to. But there are two people that come to mind when I start feeling sorry for myself that I am overworked or too tired to go on...my father in law, who is the hardest working man on the planet, and Lee, who by his example to me, showed what setting a goal and laser sighting on it was all about. Completely independent of me and in a totally different arena of life, he did what I did. He was just better and faster at it because he was clearer about what he wanted than I was. Still is for that matter. But when I read his blog I marvel at how he can juggle what he juggles, and since he has one of his many arms of influence in MY world of marching and pageantry, than HIS example becomes even more meaningful to me. And I know he probably hates this because I'm talking about him and I always seem to talk about him. But I have always been a person that--good, bad or indifferent--holds up those I respect and don't mind talking about it one bit. At least people know where I get my inspiration from at times.

OK...so anyway...sorry about all this deep stuff, but this email to me--and maybe I'm the only one it will mean this to--was just awesome. And I hope it comes to fruition. And I hope I can rise to the challenge. More to come...

NOW GET OUTTA HERE!!!

DANG IT!!!!!!!!!!

Sick again!!!!!!!!!!!!

WTF, OVER?!?!?!?!?