Wednesday Factoid: Memorable Mail

Today's Wednesday Factoid is: What's the most memorable thing you ever got in the mail?

Well my life has certainly been full of memorable mail so this is a tough one but I'll say my first All-State Chorus tape.

I was really obsessed with my high school chorus life. I'd been in a dinky elementary school chorus when I was a kid but I didn't start chorus until ninth grade and I was immediately treated like a weird prodigy because of some musicianship scores I got while trying out for All-State chorus. (I got the best scores in my school for the 9th/10th grade division.) I was kind of bamboozled by the concept of being good at something, and I liked singing a lot and wanted to make a life out of it, so being chosen for All-State Chorus was amazing. I got to perform with a group of the best and brightest from the whole state, and that was a really big difference from performing in regular high school groups.

So when I heard they were making a recording of our concert and we could purchase a tape of it, I was thrilled of course. I ordered one with my family but in those days such things were FAR from instantaneous and I would have to wait to receive my audio tape in the mail. I was totally obsessed with when it would come so I could hear our concert, and I tried to predict when it would arrive, and I called one of the event organizers to see if they knew anything. I mean I was like super fixated on this.

So of course when it actually did arrive I was thrilled, and I listened to it a bunch of times and obnoxiously made other people listen to it. The other side of the tape was another division of All-State Chorus and I listened to that and got familiar with their music too. I sent a copy to my grandparents. It was like this really big deal to me. Like magic or something, to have a professional recording of something I'd been part of.

I continued to compete and be chosen for All-State Chorus all four years of high school and I ordered a tape every year, but none was so memorable as receiving that first one. :D