When I was a student there, it was an all-girl Catholic high school. You’d think the bands would be more decent now that they’ve got guys playing in them. But instead of feeling disappointed, I was rather amused at how they horrendous they sounded, and how they concentrated more on their antics than their sound. Also amusing was how some things didn’t change, particularly in how kids write songs for a songwriting contest. The younger bands still take things too literally, making something almost jingle-like in nature. The older bands are either subtle or totally off the mark. What else didn’t change? Lead guitarists still can’t shred worth squat.

These kids actually remember me as the drummer of the senior band seven years ago. They still remember me as the quiet leader of the band who tuned everyone’s instruments and sang back up vocals behind a drum set. Loners were usually laughed at, but for a loner, people found me quite cool if only because I was in a band. It admittedly got to my head for a while. I constantly criticized how bands played (my own band included), just because I knew how to play virtually every instrument the regular small town folk knew of. That didn’t take too long, though. I eventually got tired of my kibitzing and just enjoyed the music. And I screamed like a rabid fangirl whenever necessary. But I knew fully well from experience how assholes musicians can be, so I decided to never date a musician. At least not the kind who took it as seriously as I did.

Judging for a high school band competition was especially amusing, as I haven’t criticized high school bands in a long time. They sounded worse than any high school band I’ve ever heard (so much that I wanted to get on stage and tune their guitars), but I found myself enjoying their performances. The highest score I gave was a measly 55%, but it was fun.

Nope, I still wouldn’t date a musician. I’m happily taken, and even if I weren’t, music is too precious to me for me to risk being all cynical about it again. But hey, I’d still stalk Trent Reznor, Stephen Jenkins, and the Kaulitz twins.