The Band Director of Oz
Written: Sept. 2000-Feb. 2001
The entire first page was written in Keyboarding one day when I got really bored. I meant to make the duck a plot point, but I forgot about it at about the same time I forgot about Kim. I'm not quite sure how the Beatles part came about, though. This is Melissa's favorite and Christina's least favorite.

2001: A Band Odyssey
Written: Feb. 2001-March 2001
I have two excuses for this one: most of it was written in Health, and I was a stalker. Bowlingly-challenged is actually my word, and the idea of having a bowling alley on the ship came from a Carnival commercial. The name of the boat is pronounced with a long i, then gigantic. ^-^ Personally, I'm not a big fan of this one.

When Oboists Attack
Written: April 2001
This is more of a play story than a band story, I guess. I think my goal for this one was to have a murder on every page. None of the murders were personal (except for one, that is)--I practically pulled names out of a hat. Christina came up with both the idea of killing her off and her evil twin, BTW. (And the cute guys who work at Schnucks? Adam and Jacob, of course!)

The Drum Major Strikes Back
Written: Sept. 2001-Oct. 2001
I got the idea for this one the day after our first competition (Murphysboro) while trying to fall asleep when my sister was (loudly) practicing her clarinet in the next room. The whole helium thing came from a discussion I had with Kim and Derek (because we have the *exact* same schedule) on who would be cast as various people if we did a play of one of my band stories. (That is, by the way, most people's favorite part. I was laughing hysterically while I wrote it.)

The Silence of the Tubas
Written: Oct. 2001-Nov. 2001
This would be the reason why you never decide to go out on a really muddy (think raining for the better part of the week) field. Yes, I really do have an authentic tuba beret (so does Melissa), but (unfortunately) not a Secret Lair. The Mr. Mullins coat is the coat I have that (strangely enough) is identical to the band director's. And tubaist is a word--I looked it up on dictionary.com. A good deal of the first half of this one is Kim-inspired. (Draco Polo really is something we do in algebra, because Draco is in that class.) That's what happens when you have every class with someone--they steal your notebooks. (J/k, Kim.) The last half is all me, though--I wouldn't let anybody read it till I was done. Everybody said the ending was completely predictable, but they liked supergluing Erica's mouth shut. Go figure.