Pizza Dinner Adventures

by George Mooradian, ​ΓA

As the Director of Band Activities for this academic year, I was tasked with running the
full-band events for the week of band camp. The one that needed the most logistical effort was,
as always, ordering 40 pizzas from Costco to feed 200 hungry children. It all started at a
preseason game against North Carolina Central University, where after a very warm, incredibly
boring 56-7 blowout victory by the bru-wins, I sat on the bus and called Costco in Marina Del
Rey to order 40 pizzas. Costco, of course, didn’t bat an eye at that order, because why would
they?

I was also rank leader for the Horn section this year, so the start time of Pizza Dinner fell
just one hour after the end of our leadership camp the day before band camp. I was excused early
from leadership camp, so I drove down to Costco prepared to fill my 2005 Mazda 3 as full of
pizza as it possibly could be. After the brief shopping trip to obtain vegan and gluten free pizzas,
I pulled my car up to the side of the Costco food court to load them up. After stacking them up in
my trunk and both sides of my backseat, I sat back in my driver’s seat and prepared for the short
trip back to westwood. Then the best possible thing happened on a day that the entire band was
depending on me. My check engine light was on, and my car was leaking coolant in the Costco
parking lot.

So panic started.

I quickly called everyone I knew in the band that had a car in Westwood, and thankfully,
fellow brother Maia was able to swoop in and save the day. My car was able to roll back to
Schoenberg, but she was able to buy the other incidentals, as well as all beverages for the band
members, to make the dinner actually function. Then we got the pizza set up, everyone on the
band ate, and there were still three whole pizzas leftover despite reducing the number by six
from the previous year. Oh Well.

AEA and remember to take your car in for service every 6-12 months,
George Mooradian