13

Lucky 13.

2000 and onwards.

I've spoken before about how marching band brings together folks from diverse backgrounds. The old cliques give way to a separate band clique. One of the defining features for the bands, I had thought to be universal but seemed to be localized to the Dickinson Gator Band, was the knowing how to play a certain card game.

Tien len is a simple game to pick up and handy since it's designed for 4 players and there was hardly a drought of band members. Of course, there is skill required to win consistently but it's great game to soak up time.

I was never the best, but I was good. I spent the majority of my first trimester of junior year playing 13 with two guys, non-band kids, Ben and Aaron, at lunch. The two of them taught me how to shuffle, bridge, quickly deal, and stack a deck. I started carrying a deck of cards in my pocket at all times whenever I was in school, ready for a friendly game when time allowed.

I was disheartened when Robby thought I had just made up the card game when we had time to kill at and a deck of cards at UH. 13 was as big a part of band as marching at festivals. Sure we had to a show to do, but then we had umpteen and three more shows from other schools to watch. That was prime 13ing time.

I still enjoy a good card game. I sometimes miss my old weekly game of poker, but that's a different memory for a lot of different reasons.