You Learn by Alanis Morissette

All the Jennifers

It was my second year in the Cal Band and we were in LA for the annual road trip.  Every year, the full band travels to LA to play either U$C or fUCLA.  Every other away game during football season was SHB (Straw Hat Band) only.  I had oddly decided to do a hot oil treatment for my hair the night before the trip and as a result, I was very uncomfortable with my oily hair for the next few days.  I have never done a hot oil treatment on my hair again.  The first stop in LA was the SoCal Benefit, which is a fundraising event where we would play for generous alumni and eat a fancy dinner.  That year there were six Jennifers in the Band.  To avoid any confusion, no one called any of us Jennifer or Jen(n) or Jenny.  We were JenStout, JenKlein, JennyHo, etc.  My last name was such a part of my identity that when I got divorced, several of my friends said that they never changed my last name in their phones....even after 9 years!  Is it any wonder I switched back to my maiden name.

Part of the LA trip is the excitement of staying in a hotel.  I was rooming with Jen K and possibly Melinda M and Kristin W, although I cannot remember.  I remember we had just settled into our room and turned on the radio to get the party started.  An Alanis song was playing on one station, so we paused because we all recognized the song.  We then started singing along to the most boring, depressing, un-party-like song of all time. At one point we all looked at each other and collectively realized how lame it was and promptly changed the station.

I cannot remember if we won, but I do remember the game being a bit of a disaster because someone threw an apple at the Trojan horse.  U$C fans and students aren't the nicest people, make no bones about it, but I draw the line at intentionally antagonizing an animal.  I must also confess that I do not remember going to a party in someone's hotel room, but I do know that we did because there is photographic evidence of a party in a hotel room with hideous mid-90's artwork.  There is just something fun about being jammed into a hotel room out of town with your friends and the Cal Band was very good at having fun.  So much fun in fact that the trip left us worn out and exhausted, as evidenced by the picture at the end of the trip....the picture that was completely staged because I wanted to wrap up my photo journey of the weekend.  I'm almost positive Jen and I were giggling behind those pillows.