goofball on a train

Monday, up early again for transcription. It was raining hard and looking like an all day rain, which is wonderful as we've been in a drought.

I transcribed and had breakfast, then shot over to Walmart for cough drops for Jameson and some special ice creams that we've been waiting to appear on shelves! Pop Tart ice cream sandwiches, and Butterfinger bars!


We have also been waiting for Rice Krispy Treat ice cream sandwiches and Eggo Waffle ice cream, but those have not been forthcoming yet :p Ah, it's good to be bad!

Back home to show the haul to Jameson. He was in the process of getting more info from Disney about his new job. He'll receive a work-only cell phone and a work laptop, his choice of Mac or PC. They are also working on setting up a music studio for his use. How official! How awesome!

The rest of my day was just plugging away at transcription. I was able to get most of it done, but even with going at it for 6-7 hours today I'll still have to spend 3 hours on the review and edit tomorrow. Argh. Didn't get to go for a walk or practice or plan dinner. We ordered taco salads and tried the Butterfinger bars. They are very good and were worth buying.

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Tuesday, up at 6am to finish transcribing and start the review process. I hate to get up so early on one of my few days that I COULD sleep in, but there is so much that I should be doing BESIDES transcription, and I need it out of my face.

So, coffee and an hour of typing followed by breakfast and almost four straight hours of poring over text and audio to catch errors. With breaks to pee and stretch and chat with Jameson, I finished it all at 11:30 and submitted the one job that's due 48 hours from now. The others I'll submit on one of the Epic days.

That out of the way, still a lot to do. To the grocery for dinner ingredients, then lunch. Packing meals for Epic, practicing for an hour, taking down my listings for my old trombone stuff and dragging said stuff out to the curb for bulk pickup tomorrow.

In the middle of all that I got a nice notice from LJ, about having won a year of professional service from participating in the LJ Birthday hashtag thing:



This is very nice, and I'm grateful :)
Because I'm American and can't pay like I ought to, I'd hoped to win, and put significant effort into the entry.
Just wish that I could pay and not be a leech, and not have to worry about it!

For dinner I made us a buffalo chicken recipe from Half-Baked Harvest that Jameson likes a lot.


He startled me several times today by laughing, humming to himself, openly smiling, and generally being chipper.
It's been so long since he's been actually happy about something that I forgot what it's like!

That makes me sad. But that's clinical depression.
Long-term. Hard to break out of. Always lurking, even when by all appearances things are going well.

He basically hasn't had employment-based validation since the pandemic.
And on top of that, his body has been betraying him these past few years (kidney stones, hernia, arm muscle atrophy and surgery.)
And on top of THAT, constant job rejections and interviews that led to nowhere.
All of this led to this depression in him, that has lasted for YEARS.

Like Jameson, I also get a lot of personal value from my work. Unlike him, I can glean validation from most any TYPE of work as long as it's useful to society OR I am appreciated on some level by bosses and colleagues. But Jameson has specific expectations of himself, or needs more specific validation...I don't fully understand, I just know that he needs something that he hasn't been getting since 2019.

For now, I'm grateful to have The Real Jameson back for a bit. I hope he sticks around longer this time :)

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Wednesday...

7 DAYS UNTIL EPIC UNIVERSE IS OPEN.

It seems like just yesterday we were crowding into orientation, excited and nervous, wondering how we were gonna memorize all that music, shocked that we were also being asked to ACT and do CHOREOGRAPHY. In just a few days this park will be officially complete and open; the rehearsal period will be over, and a new phase will begin.

It's been an amazing journey. I'm so grateful to be a part of this massive, exciting new theme park!!

---    ---    ---    ---    ---   

I drove straight to Epic and practiced bass trombone.

Right as I was wrapping up, Jameson sent a picture of his official offer letter for the position of Producer with Disney Event Group. He'd gotten it, and a contract to sign, this morning.

(this is the logo used at the top of his offer letter.)

Just a few hours after that, I received the American Federation of Musicians official contract for Beauty and the Beast.
Took a picture and sent it to Jameson. Signed it and sent it off.

Wow.
Life is SO STRANGE.

We are so, so fortunate.
Not only do we get to experience these monumental career highs...
...we also get to do it at the same time, and with the same company!!!

No matter what happens next, no one can take this moment away from us :)

---    ---    ---    ---    ---   

My day was normal otherwise. It was hot and sunny, we did all of our sets without the cart or Plume. The cart is supposed to be back with us by Saturday, so that's good.

Partway through the day Universal announced that they'll be livestreaming a special Grand Opening event on the night of the 21st, starting at 7pm EST.


We knew that there was an event planned; I'd already been scheduled to work that day and was asked to stay and perform three additional sets for a bit of extra money. So I'll be there for whatever happens, though I won't get to see much because I'll be working. YOU can watch the whole thing, though! I hope whatever-it-is is really cool!!

Additionally, I got a detailed route sheet from Beauty and the Beast. It's a document that shows which hotels we'll be staying in on tour, whether we'll be taking buses or flights between cities, and other small details like rehearsal days and some venue info.


I need this info to complete my Foodie Finds, but also to help plan whether or not to take buyouts and book my own travel or housing. And also, receiving this kind of detailed info really locks you into a tour; they only give it to people who WILL be traveling with them. It's a huge security risk otherwise. So, all of this makes everything REAL. It's really happening! I know I keep saying that but it's been so hard to believe without a scrap of paperwork.

(Regarding tour buyouts: When on tour, the production company books hotel rooms for the entire traveling company, but sometimes people want to visit with relatives, save money by pooling on an Airbnb, rent a car instead of riding the company bus, etc. To accommodate this, the company offers what's called a buyout, where you let them know that you want to book your own shit in X city and they give you the money that they would've spent on your housing or travel. It's really convenient!)

There are a few things in this BATB info that tells me this tour will be different, in a good way.
One of those is that we MIGHT get our own storage boxes that will travel by truck!!
That means I could bring more than what fits in my luggage! What a luxury!

The other thing is that nearly all of the hotels are EXTENDED STAY.
That means REAL REFRIGERATORS!!!!!! OH MY GOD!!!!!

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Thursday: Another day at Epic.

Friday: Jameson and I celebrate our career success with a day at Hollywood Studios!

Saturday: Lots to do, but hopefully catching a little bit of rest too.

Sunday: Day with Disney and the Main Street Phil :)

Finally, I can share:

I will be joining the all-new Beauty and the Beast national tour!!


Cities list and tickets will be HERE for anyone interested.

---    ---    ---    ---    ---   

I think most of you kind of knew about this already because it was so hard for me to keep my mouth shut haha.
I was offered the trombone chair way back in December!
Today a casting announcement went up, so it’s finally public :)

Australian promo video. The show premiered in the West End and is now in Australia through July.
This is an all-new edition: new costumes and new orchestrations!



I want to explain a little bit why this tour is different from others I’ve done.

Think about The Lion King.
It's both on Broadway in New York, and on tour.

The Lion King national tour has been running for 23 years.

(image courtesy London Theatre)

I don't expect BATB to run for THAT long.
But the schedule that I was handed goes at least to 2027.
It DEFINITELY has the potential to go for years more.

Additionally it's a union tour, produced and managed exclusively by Disney.
That is a higher production value--and pay scale--than any other tour I've ever been involved in.

And finally, if they like my work, there is so much potential to be called for even more Disney musical opportunities. On tour, internationally, AND on actual Broadway in New York City.

Hercules the Musical is currently opening in the West End.
There is a Tangled musical being written right now.

You know?

I promise, I am not just playing this up to be a big deal.
It IS a big deal, for any musician.
It is potentially life-changing for me.

---    ---    ---    ---    ---   

On one had, I am very intimidated and terrified.

Most of these people have never heard me play before.
What if I'm not good enough?
There is a layoff right away in Chicago in July.
They could easily replace me at that time if they don't care for my playing.
Of course I can't control that, and worrying about it accomplishes nothing.

To be asked to perform with a tour of this level is currently the biggest accomplishment of my entire musical career.
Terrified and worried about it as I may be, every day I remember:

They could have asked anyone. And they asked me.

And THAT has already been given, and cannot be taken away from me.

---    ---    ---    ---    ---    

Warning: at some point I'll probably write a really sappy navelgaze post about all the struggles and hardships, the experiences and relationships and connections, that ultimately got me to this point in my career. But for today, it's enough to say that I'm gonna get to play Beauty and the Beast!!

Up early again for Epic.

This time I went to Sprouts before work, because they have Spindthrift sodas and it turns out Jameson likes them :)

From there it was a normal morning, I was able to get a full hour of bass trombone practice before our sets which made me very happy.

The sets were all normal, but...there is already some pretty crummy behavior going on.
Universal is more of an "adult" park, which in some ways is a good and fun thing...and in some ways, opens the door to a lot of potential unpleasantness.

Today we had good crowds, but for the first two they were like TV audiences.
That is, we looked out onto a sea of phones. I felt like I was at a press conference or something.
And when we tried to interact we got no response or blank stares from most people.

Usually by the end of the set, if people stuck around that long, they'd start to warm up and clap and dance and whatnot. But not everyone stays that long; a lot of people take a quick video clip and leave. We're an ATMO band, which means we're supposed to add to the ambiance of Place Cachee, and make people feel like they're in 1920s wizarding Paris, and give guests an experience that they can't get anywhere else. But if you never once look up from your phone...what exactly did you pay for when you bought your ticket? You could have stayed home and watched videos of the park online, and saved some money. I guess that makes me old but, it was my thoughts today.

We had more questionable guest behavior in the form of a drunk guy who came running up to me during our performance and started yelling at me in Spanish. He didn't seem aggressive, just seemed to be acting stupid, but he was much bigger than me and got right up in my personal space. Our handlers were apparently too timid to do anything about it. The other two musicians immediately stomped over to "suggest" he step back...politely, and still in character. But they shouldn't have to do that in the middle of a show. We shouldn't have to stop a show to "handle" guests, that is what a HANDLER is for.

This stuff is only going to happen more and more, so we'd better get used to it and our handlers had better step up. I would hope that at some point we'll have training on how to handle negative interactions...but I won't hold my breath for it. I will simply have to watch out for myself. If I see that help is not forthcoming, I will act to protect myself...i.e., I will simply leave the set until the problem is removed. In the event that I can't leave because someone is trapping me or grabbing/touching me...let's just say I'm grateful to be holding a trombone. Which can be a VERY effective weapon. Which I hope no one will ever have to experience.

But you know. FAFO.


Aaaanyway, that was the excitement. Otherwise it was good sets and good crowds.

---    ---    ---    ---    ---

I ate dinner in the break room and then drove to Will's for what was likely my final bass trombone lesson.

Chatted with him and his wife a bit, asked questions about his recent heart surgery which he said went really well, he's just a little sore and is recovering nicely. This is our first lesson in I think 3 weeks, and I was very gratified when Will exclaimed over the noticeable difference in my playing. I don't always practice as much as I should or work on all the areas that I should, but I do practice regularly and have worked very hard to be more comfortable with the bass, and it showed. I could feel it myself in the lesson, remembering how I'd sounded with Will previously. I'm still not as good as Will and probably never will be, but that's ok. I'll get better with time, and will continue to do my very own best :)

Back home the routine of unpacking and cleaning myself up and splatting on the floor.
Jameson had his last gig at Epcot tonight, and is tired but overall positive about his first performances post-surgery.
We will see how his arm feels over the next 48 hours.

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Friday I was up too early. Coffee and typing this and breakfast, trying to figure out what to make for dinner and settling on a cheeseburger fusilli bake that we both like. Got the ingredients for that. Did not practice, didn't feel like it.

Had an exchange of information with the upcoming tour management, and that made me feel relieved although they still haven't given us much. Now I've got flight and hotel bookings for rehearsals in Schenectady. What I REALLY want is onboarding paperwork and the dang music. But, gotta be patient.

The rest of the day was slow, I just did research related to touring, worked on foodie finds, and read my book to relax a bit.

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Saturday, up early for no reason again. I guess this is my life now.
Slept poorly too because had eaten too many acidic things all day yesterday, and felt mildly heartburn-y and nauseous all night. It happens.

Jameson had a playdate with friends this AM, so after he left I drove out to the nearest Michaels to look at foam inserts for my bass trombone case. The case is heavy-duty, but the padding inside is not the greatest so I need materials to cushion the horn further for transport.

$80 later I had some chunks of foam, some dark grey felt (they were out of black), two sheets of black craft foam, two foam cones, a small cushioned black case that was maybe meant for glasses(?)...and these adorable post-its, because they're fun and life is short!


Back home I chopped up the foam and put a chunk in the bottom of the trombone case to cushion the trigger mechanism, which currently is touching the hard side of the case and could be easily damaged as-is. I think the foam is perfect to protect it but we'll see. Additional foam in the more narrow section that houses the tuning slides. There was a lot of leeway for motion there that is greatly reduced with the foam.


The black craft foam, I cut a piece to put in the bottom of my mute bag to help muffle sound. I like to start packing up mutes before the show is over where possible, and this will help me not to make noise while doing so.

The foam cones are to be inserted in the trombone bells, to protect them from being crushed during transport. They extend slightly beyond the edge of the bell, which allows them to take impacts instead of the bell itself. The bell may still receive damage sometimes but odds are greatly reduced by using a cone (this is why my bass trombone's bell got crushed during shipping to me, because the idiot who packaged it did NOT follow my directions and did NOT use a cone.)


The small black case is for one of my small tuning slides on the bass, which must be removed for the instrument to fit in the case. It will probably also hold my mouthpiece once I get an appropriate sheath to protect them from clinking together. For the time being I cut a bit of the dark grey felt to go in there and provide extra cushioning, and threw random things in there like a mouthpiece brush and tape and spare trigger gummies.


More of the grey felt will be put in front of the bell-and-cone, just to snug it in there more tightly. I was very satisfied with how my little plan worked out here.

I practiced a bit but wasn't feeling great, so mostly tried to rest.
Later on we drove down to Colonial Ave to see a Queen tribute concert.
We've seen this band before, our friend Allen (whose nickname is Shrek) was a sound guy on the circus and now exclusively tours with this tribute band. It's good money for him and he absolutely loves it, plus they come through Florida once or twice a year and we get to see him! We had dinner together and got caught up, then Allen got us our tickets and took us backstage to meet some band members. Everyone was pleasant as always, and since Jameson is both a keyboardist and Queen fan he always has lots of nerd-stuff to chat about with the lead singer and the keyboardist :)

The concert was lots of fun. The theatre is old so it was warm and stinky, but that also made it feel, I guess "classic!" Like, this was a common live venue setting back in the 80s and 90s. Few people were looking at their phones or even recording...most were really interacting, cheering, and having fun. I feel like that might be a rarity any more.


After the show we said goodbye to Allen and thanked him for the tickets, and left so he could get started on loading out.

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Sunday, my brain finally allowed me to sleep through the night AND stay asleep until 9am.

This was partly because it was raining! It was darker than usual so I think my brain didn't know what time it was.
We have been in a drought here in Florida and BADLY needed this rain.



It also gave an excuse to have a nice slow morning.
I still feel kind of like, on the verge of having a virus, though I feel better than yesterday so that's something. I had an electrolyte drink, and waited a while before practicing bass, and then Disney stuff on tenor. After practice I had lunch with Jameson and then took a coffee grinder I'd sold on Ebay over to UPS so I won't have to worry about it on Monday. Then Jameson and I rested. He gamed and I watched Aladdin for no reason other than I felt like it. Maybe it's just comforting while I'm feeling under the weather.

Before dinner I cleared out the areas under the guest bathroom and kitchen sinks, and after dinner I did the master bathroom. Tomorrow we are having new sinks put into the bathrooms and new faucets in all three. Opened each box to make sure all parts are there and nothing is broken. We've had terrible luck with contractors and getting ripped off and/or paying for services that do not get completed, so please cross your fingers for us that we will just be able to get these installed without drama or issue.

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Monday: Three faucets and two sinks getting installed early in the morning. The rest of the day should be free. I'll probably practice and pack for Disney. If I'm feeling better I'll make something for dinner.

Tuesday: Rehearsal day at Disney.

Wednesday & Thursday: Working at Epic.

Blog post for LiveJournal's 26th birthday, about holidays and celebrations.
Read it HERE

Monday, after breakfast:
     - Ran dishwasher
     - Mailed off the sold trombone accessories
     - Went to Lowe's to buy 2 bathroom sinks and 3 faucets, and schedule installation of those
     - Did laundry
     - Made grocery list
     - Chatted with step-grandma about how her first Easter went without her husband there
     - Responded to misc social media comments on my posts (this takes significant time so I list it with chores)

After lunch:
     - Folded laundry
     - Practiced bass trombone
     - Made Reverb listings for my digital court reporting stuff that I need to sell
     - Reached out to schedule a possible visit with an American trombone craftsman in July
     - Cheered for Jameson as he got the call for his second interview with Disney!!

MAN I really hope they consider him seriously this time. He's been told it's the final round, and he's never made it that far in the interview process. I hope so strongly for a good result for him.

Also some Epic coworkers sent me a few more nice photos that a professional photographer took on Saturday.


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Tuesday, breakfast, then
     - packed lunch and dinner for Epic
     - washed tenor trombone because I want to start practicing doubling
     - grocery for dinner ingredients

After lunch,
     - put chicken in a marinade for dinner
     - went back out to get pickled ginger at Walmart since they hadn't had it at Publix
     - solidified an appointment with the trombone craftsman up in Chicago for July
     - packed more stuff for Epic (clothes, trombones, music, etc)
     - put music for an upcoming Chicago tribute band on my iPad
     - went BACK out because I'd ordered some photo prints at Walgreens and they were ready in like 2 seconds

...and took a rest, which I hope is acceptable.
Meanwhile Jameson worked. A pretty normal day for both of us.

Here is my framed show photo.


Jameson has a few framed photos of live performances, from when he played with Mulch, Sweat, & Shears at Disney. His parents have some too. It's not something that I would've thought to do myself, and will be a nice memento especially years from now.

For dinner I made a spicy sesame chicken ginger salad from Half-Baked Harvest.
Shredded Napa cabbage, romaine, flavorful marinated chicken breast, mandarin oranges, pomegranate seeds, wonton strips, avocado, roasted peanuts, green onion, cilantro, and a soy-honey-ginger-orange-gochujang dressing.


I was surprised that Jameson actually liked it, and enough to go back for seconds, so I'll be making it or some variation of it again for sure.

As we were winding down our evening my stepmom called to catch up (I'd emailed her over Easter.) She's in Delaware with friends. I was glad to hear that as she has glaucoma, is legally blind, and is from a rural area, which all means she's dependent on others for even short trips. She's doing well, and we made plans for me to possibly come visit during one of the tour layoffs.

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Wednesday, up early and after doing "Phillipa hair" and eating breakfast,

     - shipped an item that I'd sold overnight
     - stopped at Whole Paycheck for a few things
     - got to Epic, put away my food, got makeup and costume on
     - dragged my trombones to the stairwell and practiced for an hour

I did 45 minutes on bass followed by a 15-minute review of my Place Cachee Jazz music, because remember last week I was disappointed with how I'd played. It was a busy week and I was tired and stressed, but that's not an excuse especially when we are constantly being recorded and watched by management.

Thankfully, today went a LOT better. Gave myself a little pep talk and did just fine all day.
After one of the sets we were mobbed by people wanting selfies with Plume (our puffskein). About four groups were able to get photos before our handlers intervened so we could leave. Moments like these are always hard because we'd truly love to stay and let everyone have a photo! But we also have just a short time to prepare for the next set, AND we need to clear out because other atmo performers also use that space (Cosme the wand shop owner, but also the aurors and wizarding school students.) Hopefully people will be understanding just as they are with meet-and-greets.

Otherwise it was a normal day, and I hope to have another just like it tomorrow.

In closing, HERE is a review of the musical offerings at Epic Universe which of course strongly features us.

TL;DR:


And here is a recent performance clip with me, Joe (trumpet sub), and Adrian (clarinet)

Watch on YouTube

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Thursday: Day at Epic

Friday: Day off. Housework, practice trying to sell more junk.

Saturday & Sunday: Also days off. Cooking...maybe I can convince Jameson to eat out once too...

Monday, I was up just a little before Jameson for breakfast and to feel nervous about the Steamboat Lillie rehearsal.

After Jameson went to the gym I practiced bass and packed my meals for Epic tomorrow.
Ate lunch in the car on the way to the musician's union building near downtown, which is where rehearsal would be held.

I haven't been to the union building for ages. Bad memories. When I first moved to Orlando Jameson lived in an apartment so I couldn't practice there without disturbing the neighbors. I'd practice at the union building whenever I could get a reservation for it...but 9 out of 10 times my rehearsal was halved by assholes (men) who insisted on rehearsing past their assigned time, or who would bust in in the middle of my time slot to banter and guffaw and use the space as a hang, and would glare at me for being there (even though I had more right to be there than any of them considering it was MY time slot.)

This was one of the reasons I left the union soon after. And then we moved to a house in Kissimmee anyway.

It all looked pretty much the same, maybe slightly cleaner but not much.


Three ladies were already there practicing. I introduced myself and got set up. Others were running late (people have kids and real jobs) so we used that time to try on our flapper dresses from Amazon. Our bandleader had wisely ordered multiple sizes, knowing that sometimes clothing online is not what it seems. My dress fit perfectly, and it is pale purple, almost the same color I wear as Phillipa in 1920s Paris at Epic Universe. Go figure!

When everyone else arrived we buckled down and plowed through the music piece by piece.
None of it is particularly hard, but some arrangements were pilfered online and are kind of "not the best" as far as making sense. Overall, though, people will have an easy time recognizing familiar Disney classics played in an old-timey jazz style. My favorite arrangements were the ones our bandleader did herself, you could tell she knows what she's doing as an arranger.

Overall this rehearsal went much better than I'd anticipated. Jazz is my biggest weakness as a musician, and improv jazz is worst of all. Playing it makes me feel inadequate and self-conscious. But this was a good group of patient people. And fortunately a lot of what was marked "solo" improv in my part turned out to be optional or for anyone to solo, not just trombone. Phew. It was a big relief not to have to improv much!

Back home I thanked my Morning Self for packing the Epic stuff so I wouldn't have to do it after a long day :p

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Tuesday. Halfway through April, wow.

They've moved our Epic sets by about an hour so I was able to get up an hour later, still 6:45am.

I argued with myself about bringing the bass trombone to Epic because with the schedule change I may actually have time to practice. Decided to bring it and at least have a try.

It was a normal day, quite hot and sunny. I did indeed find time to practice, only 30 minutes but way better than nothing. I was incredibly tired today, but so were a lot of other people, so maybe it's the heat or the alignments of the planets or something. Nothing else to report except that leaving work an hour later (5:30pm instead of 4:30pm) really, really sucks.

This was the "best route" according to the Googs:


What kind of squiggly-snake BS nonsense is this?!
Just horrific. And Epic isn't even open yet. Ugh.

By the time I got home I was truly exhausted, and thanked my Morning Self for insisting that I bring the bass to Epic because Evening Self had absolutely no energy for it. The morning version of me sure is stepping up this week! LOL

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Wednesday. Jameson had to get up at 8 for a doctor's appointment, so I just got up when he did.

Had breakfast and went out to get myself bagels and coffee but otherwise stayed at home and felt nervous about tonight's gig.
Practiced parts of the Steamboat music that I'm uncomfortable with, and tried to relax the rest of the time because I feel stressed and tired. Our third party has been getting our pay wrong, multiple weeks in a row, and it's stressing me out on top of misc other things.

When it got to be time to go I packed some snacks, trombone and music stand, trombone stand, mutes, in-ears, music, and dress shoes, then put on my Phillipa makeup and stockings (I had smuggled my makeup bag and stockings home from Epic for this haha.)

The venue was easy to find. Dragged all of my stuff inside and got set up.
From here, everything kind of went off the rails.

Problem 1: A child--I'm talking Gen Alpha--came running out from somewhere to do our sound setup, already on the phone with someone for help and with a panicked look on his face. Oh, lord. Sound check was supposed to be at 4pm and we did not play one note until 5pm. We found out later that the actual sound guy's grandfather had died and that's why he wasn't there...and we are all sympathetic to that. But the venue also could have told our bandleader that, so she could have had us come earlier, or made arrangements for us to warm up elsewhere while sound got their sh*t together instead of wasting an hour sitting on stage.

Problem 2: The bassist's bass started BREAKING. I don't exactly know how, but suspect that since it was hot outside and she'd had a long drive, she'd brought the car-warmed bass into the absolutely freezing theatre and it had started to crack (this is a VERY common problem with wooden instruments including clarinets, and is why unionized musicians insist on specific temperatures in performance spaces.) We all jumped on our phones and frantically started asking around for any bassists in the area to help...within the next hour.

Problem 3: Our trumpet player's audio pack died immediately meaning she'd have to do the entire show without the click track.

Problem 4: There were four songs that we didn't get to at rehearsal, that we were planning to cover at this sound check. Which we now couldn't do because due to the theater's audio crew (a child) not knowing what they were doing, we were now an hour behind schedule.

We did end up getting an emergency upright bass from a local bassist, god bless her.
And we did get our mixes together. But had absolutely no time to warm up or run any tunes.

And hey, the dresses were nice. Here's mine.


Problem 5: I have to apologize if this sounds snooty or rude, and I have loads of respect for our bandleader, who worked very hard to make this band happen. But truth is truth, and every musician on that stage with me would agree: most of these arrangements were simply NOT GOOD. Even during intermission our reed player was frantically making changes to her part to try and make it sound reasonable. There were so many times that I, a low brass instrument, was written to play ABOVE the trumpet and saxophone. That just doesn't sound good, which is why people don't WRITE that way :/

Problem 6: The click track was difficult to hear, and one of us (trumpet player) didn't have the click at all and so couldn't hear any count-offs. I tried to give her the count offs when I could, but *I* barely knew them either as we'd only had that one rehearsal and one run-through of each song (well, most songs.) The result was that we'd start with the click and quickly migrate away from it. So imagine trying to sing a song while another completely different song is playing loudly in the background. That's what it was like, and it was horrible. I stuck with it for a while but when we hit the Monsters, Inc. medley it's very syncopated AND I have a solo. I locked eyes with the drummer and we simultaneously reached out and yanked out our ear buds, lol. At least that was comedic, because the rest of the situation really wasn't.

Problem 7: Our poor bandleader had paid a professional photographer/videographer to come and take footage of this set, to use for media promotion to hopefully get the group hired for corporate events or weddings or whatever. Yikes. He probably got some decent visual footage...but I doubt much of our audio was usable the way things were going. Between the bad arrangements and not following the click track and the bassist being on an unfamiliar instrument and all of us having to play in a very cold space...it just didn't go very well.

Was it terrible? No. Every woman on that stage is an excellent musician. But circumstantially, we were screwed.
Even without the sound check issues, having a gig based on less-than-ideal arrangements, with only one run-through rehearsal, and using a click track when we had a perfectly excellent drummer, is what did us in. It's a shame. I was grateful that Jameson had NOT come out to support me for this one.

I do think that the idea of an all-female 1920s Disney jazz band is awesome!
But tonight it was too rushed, too unorganized, to come together.
Maybe in the future the parts can be refined, we can talk the bandleader out of using a click past the count-off, and we can have more rehearsals. I think all of that would make this a great band.


(but the odds of me playing with this group again, after that experience, are slim.)

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Thursday: I was supposed to have a bass lesson but Will is still recovering from surgery so it's a day off. Practice, some chores, the usual.

Friday: Another day off, I'll cook dinner and probably find other things that need to be done. Still have a lot of crap to list for sale online.

Saturday: Day at Epic.

Sunday: Easter, Easter church gig, eating candy all day with Jameson hopefully, making us a nice-but-basic Easter dinner. Thinking of my mom (Easter was her favorite holiday.)

Addendum: Someone made a video of our full set at Epic a few days ago! I didn't play my best (this was the last set of Tuesday and I was ungodly tired and unfocused) but now you can hear ALL of the lines and see Plume's big reveal, the percussion number, etc!
(and yes, we know we need to be miked, we've been asking for mics from day one and will continue to push for them!!)

Watch on YouTube

Monday, up early for Epic.

It was a fairly normal day, except now people can record us. Crowds were thin but I think it's because most rides and shows are actually up and running, so people don't need to loaf about under the blazing sun when they could be, you know, petting dragons and such.

There was a snippet video of us posted later on, not the full show, just some nice highlights.
This is the first public footage of me performing with Place Cachee Jazz!
(the timestamp is 14:04 if the video doesn't automatically start there)



Between shows I practiced a little, but there still just isn't time for it...by the time I get everything set up I've only got 10 minutes to play. If there were a dedicated warm-up room I could leave my things there, but there isn't.

After work, Whole Paycheck for the hot bar and some favorites (tofu bites, Koia shakes) before booking it home to pack for tomorrow and practice bass.

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Tuesday, Epic again.

It was a bit drizzly in the morning which made it cooler :)

We did one show without the cart (mostly to protect Plume the puffskein from drizzle) and the rest were with the cart. All of the shows went well, though some were a bit underattended.

TMI WARNING (nothing explicit, just talk about "gut stuff")
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I also felt malaise during the second-to-last show, it felt like either my usual nerves/stress physical reaction or something that I ate causing abdominal cramps, or perhaps both. Sometimes this happens. I've suspected for a while that I've got stress-related IBS or something similar, but since I don't feel nauseous, stop eating, or lose weight due to these episodes, I generally ignore them. A buildup of stress? A reaction to something I ate? Something more sinister? As a Millennial American, I have no financial way of knowing unless it becomes a medical emergency or starts significantly disrupting my daily life. It must be nice to have the privilege of simply seeing a doctor when you don't feel well. What must that be like! Only my parents and grandparents got to enjoy that before pulling the ladder up behind them.
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Rant over...but not really.
I'll probably die from something completely preventable, thanks to this, so will never not be angry about it.
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Anyway, it was a normal day and I drove straight home afterward. It took me a while to pack breakfast, lunch, dinner, and clothing for Disney tomorrow, and afterward I wanted to rest and make sure I'm not getting sick (based on tmi events above.) Ate dinner and dessert just fine...who knows.

Also, on the way home I was listening to NPR and they were discussing the workings of immigration court. I was gratified to hear the host describe the details of the work I've been doing for the past several months. It also made me worried, for the first time, about what it means that immigration trials are currently on hold. And with Trump deporting people like he's doing. That's peoples' rights on hold.

Not for my sake at all...I really hope that immigration hearings resume soon. Because people who come to this country are supposed to have rights. And if these cases DON'T resume....it's pretty damn bad sign.

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I got to sleep in a bit later, 7:30am!
A relaxing morning of breakfast and seeing Jameson off to the gym, then I left for the Magic Kingdom.

The weather was calm and clear, not too hot even, and attendance was clearly up. We had great crowds all day!

Apparently Wednesdays are when the Dapper Dans rehearse under the Castle. They were with us in the warm-up room all day (not the group performing in the park that day, but a different set of four guys, possibly subs.) This meant that the band guys mostly stuck to their man-cave break room, and I stayed in the warm-up room because to me that IS the break room. The Dappers didn't mind at all, so I got to enjoy sitting quietly between sets and listening to their lovely harmonies all day :)

Here's a clip of them in the park.
(For those who are LJ or DW Friends, you'll get to see a video of their actual rehearsal today in a separate Friends Only post!)



We added "Heigh-Ho" to the parade music, and it went quite well. I was glad I'd memorized it in time.
Overall a really nice day.

Small introspection: it is a wondrous thing to be working at two amusement parks right now, one old and one new.
I've possibly mentioned this in previous posts, but felt it again today.

At Epic, everything is frantic with the energy and chaos of a new park about to open.
Everything is innovative and novel, the landscape is constantly changing, excitement is high, things are moving quickly.
There is an incredible undertow of hope and anticipation.
It is stressful, but also exciting.
There is a feeling of being a pioneer of sorts...every day I am aware that I am one of the first to walk these halls, to ride these rides, to look upon this newly-made "world."
My voice--the sound of my instrument--is one of the first to echo in the Ministry of Magic.
Those who work here, right now, are the first to call this park "home."
There's a wonderful feeling of pride to be a part of this new venture, a phenomenon about to be revealed that will surprise and delight millions, and touch the hearts of people around the world.
Memories waiting to be made. A legacy waiting to be written.

(photo courtesy Orlando Sentinel)

And then the next day I'm at Disney, riding the employee bus to the Castle.
The bus drivers are chill and friendly, take time to smile and greet everyone, and in return employees wave and shout, "Thank you!" as they get on off the bus.
Everyone walks patiently into the Utilidors, chatting and clocking in, most already in costume.
Nothing seems rushed or frantic; routines here are established.
Everyone knows their role and if they don't they've got someone to guide them.
The floor is worn, worn, worn by the feet of thousands of Castmembers before us.
The walls are covered in the legacy of Walt Disney...his image, his art, his innovations new and old.
Decades of memories. A legacy writ so deep that it has become a part of human existence.
There is a feeling of pride equally deep...of being part of an old magic, a cherished treasure passed down like an heirloom through time and space.
There is a feeling of belonging.

(photo courtesy AllEars.net)

Both places have such strong magic.
Standing with one foot in each world, as I'm doing, leaves me awestruck when I stop to think about it.

What a treasure.

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Thursday: "Day off" for me, so catching up on housework and practicing AND supporting Jameson as he has another interview with DEG today!

Friday: Epic Universe, but rehearsal is at NIGHT for the first time! I can't wait to see Place Cachee all lit up :)

Saturday: Day off, supposedly meeting with someone to talk about bass trombone mutes.

Sunday: I picked up another day at the Magic Kingdom, hooray!!

The preview day that Jameson and I selected for Epic Universe was Saturday April 5th.

We got up a bit early and fought traffic to the guest parking lot.
(This is one thing that still badly needs work...it took us 20 minutes to get into the lot from less than a mile away, and the park isn't even open yet! I really hope they add more access points soon.)

As we were parking, my WhatsApp started pinging. It was my Epic Universe group chat.
The photo/media ban had been lifted! We were allowed to take pictures and video!!
And here I was pulling up to the park, ready for a full day of seeing it!!

I've never had much luck with money...but BOY do I have good luck with life experiences!!

As we were walking to the Chronos portal, parking employees and security guards and EVERYONE was shouting to guests, "The photo ban is lifted! Take pictures! Take video!" One even screamed, "Someone, take a photo of meeeee!!!"

Everyone has had to keep quiet for SO LONG. It's hard! I think we are all relieved and excited to share what we've been working on all this time!

The Chronos portal, the entrance to Epic Universe, and my first photo of the park!


We walked in and were in Celestial Park, which is the hub where all the "world" portals meet.
Here there are gardens, lots of food options, rides, and kiosks for future shops (most of which are still closed.)
It is a very beautiful park, and has been well-documented already, so I didn't take many photos here.

(stock image)

The primary ride offerings are the Stardust Racers coasters, and the carousel.
We watched the coasters for a while...they are beautiful to see, and I've heard that they're one of the best coasters Universal has ever done. I can believe it. The carousel was running, so we rode that. The animals are not attached at the ceiling, which makes for a really cool effect and you also go up higher than expected! The animals are all based on constellations. It doesn't move in a plain circle like a traditional carousel, either, and that was surprising and fun.

CLICK HERE to see my footage of riding the carousel

We continued to the Wizarding World / Ministry of Magic portal, because we wanted to grab a drink and catch my show's set before seeing the Circus Arcanus show.


It was such a cool thing, to walk into this park as a guest for the first time.
Looking around...there was where we rehearsed for 3 hours one day because there were paint fumes where we normally rehearsed. Here's the wall I watched someone "age" for a week. There's the shop where we got to watch a magical creature animatronic being installed. It is truly such a special thing to have seen a theme park being built from the ground up!

Anyway, we first stopped at Bar Moonshine for a fancy cocktail featuring absinthe and limoncello (no idea what else was in it but it was delicious!)


I could hear my group performing outside, so as soon as we had our drinks we rushed out.

For the first time: meet Phillipa, Chandler, Jules, and our puffskein named Plume!!!

CLICK HERE for footage of the band performing!




(video and first 2 photos from Attractions Magazine, last photo from me)

I am SO GLAD that we don't have to hide our show any more!!!

These three (Mariah as "Phillipa," Adrian as "Chandler," Adam as "Jules") are "the PR Trio" that I've been talking about.
They're the three who are chosen to perform any time there's a PR event or Warner Bros. execs in the park. So of course they did an amazing job today!!

After they finished I was gratified to see one of our stage managers take a group photo of them and immediately share it on LinkedIn. The media ban is INDEED lifted. Hooray!

(photo courtesy Brendan)

Soon, I'll have media of my own performances to share! How exciting!

We finished our drinks quickly and queued up for Cirque Arcanus.

Jameson in the queue. The theming of the queue gave us both a bit of nostalgia for our time with Ringling Bros.


The show was, once again, mind-blowingly incredible.
I'll say it again: if you get a chance to visit Epic Universe, this show is a MUST. Make time for it in your itinerary.
The level of performance, and staging technology, happening in this show, is going to change the entertainment industry.

We explored some of the Place Cachee shops and mentally bookmarked some things that we might want.
We visited Cosme's wand shop so I could show Jameson the circus Ringmaster's wand, and introduce him to Cosme herself (all of the Place Cachee / Ministry of Magic performers share break rooms and dressing rooms, so I see all of the Cosme performers, Aurors, Exchange Students, Living Portraits, and Circus performers, EVERY day!) Cosme has a custom wand, and showed it to Jameson, that was super cool :)

We then used my wand to cast a few spells around the park, getting a niffler to drop it's horde of coins and making some musical instruments move around in a shop window!

From there we entered the portal to Super Nintendo World.
The last time I was able to go, the park was still heavily under construction. This was my first time seeing it complete!

CLICK HERE to see the portal to Super Nintendo Land courtesy Attractions Magazine

We saw that Mario and Luigi were out for a meet-and-greet, and only had to wait about 10 minutes for that!


We explored the gift shops and saw LOTS of things that we wanted, but managed to narrow it down to a few things haha.
Since it was about lunch time we decided to eat at Toadstool Cafe.

(stock image)

The theming in there is absolutely adorable. Every once in a while Bowser's flying battleship floats through and the lights dim, things become ominous, ADORABLE, then it moves on and the Mushroom Kingdom continues going about it's business :D

All of the restaurants in the park, by the way, are self-serve, which is SO MUCH FASTER.
There are QR codes at every table. You scan them for the menu, pick what you want, order it, and pay.
Done. No waiting for the check. No hoping your server heard you say "No mayo" above the racket. You just eat and leave when you're ready. We absolutely loved the convenience of this throughout the day!

Anyway, We got a bunch of foods to try!

Jameson had spaghetti and meatballs. I tried his meatball and it was delicious, tender and with a little bit of spicy heat (not too much, just barely noticeable and very tasty!)

(LA Times photo)

I had the chicken Caesar salad, which I realize is "boring" but A) look at the adorable Super Star plating! B) I knew we'd be eating A LOT today so tried to at least be slightly healthy here lol.


Mushroom-shaped "garlic knots." Very tasty!


Our dessert, a Question Box tiramisu. The question box was shortbread cookies, and inside was an absolutely decadent and delicious tiramisu. We enjoyed it very much, and it looked so cute!


We decided to walk our lunch off at Berk.

(stock image)

This is the only park I'd never visited during construction, so I was very excited to see it. It did not disappoint! The theming is immersive and adorable. It's a land definitely geared toward a younger audience, but it is also beautiful and there's lots of people of all ages to enjoy. We tried to ride a Viking water boat ride/shooting game, but it broke down while we were in queue so we ended up bailing. Then we queued up for a Toothless meet-and-greet, which was going smoothly until a huge crowd of INFLUENCERS showed up with media passes and bogarted the line (-_-#) What started as a 15-minute wait became an hour.

But we consoled ourselves with the knowledge that once the park was open, the wait would be at least 2 hours long, daily. Not only that, during previews meal and merch prices are HALF OFF. There were only about 11,000 people in the entire park, across all the worlds. Every queue that we were in, every experience that we enjoyed today, was EXCEPTIONAL compared to what paying guests will have to endure. We made very sure not to EVER forget that, and be appreciative even while waiting!!

Finally, our patience was rewarded :)

CLICK HERE to see our meet and greet with Toothless!



As you can see from the video, the level of expressiveness and interaction from Toothless is astounding. I know that he is controlled by a puppeteer, and also some of his sounds and expressions are controlled by someone with an iPad somewhere. Seeing al this artistry and tech come together in this experience was absolutely wonderful. We got to see several small children interacting with Toothless, and you could tell...they completely thought he was REAL. It's going to be a very memorable experience for kids and their parents, that's for sure.

We saw lots of other cool interactive tidbits throughout this world, including an Astrid and Stormfly meet and greet, and several fun statues that would move or make noise if you turned a big wheel at their base. I'm sure loads of footage will be forthcoming...we didn't take as much footage here because of all the media/press swarming around while we were in this world. I felt silly with my little phone while surrounded by people wearing stabilizers and high-fidelity mics and thousands of dollars-worth of media gear. Let them document this for you :)

We entered the Untrainable Dragon stage show. You can already see this show in its entirety on YouTube because it's in Universal Beijing. Jameson had seen it before, but I hadn't. Again, the technology and puppetry, animatronics and acting and staging, all made for an incredible show! In my opinion the Circus show is still "the groundbreaking one," but this show is also extremely impressive and well worth seeing if you can stand the wait.

(stock image)

We wandered Berk a bit looking for the Mead Hall, yet somehow couldn't find it? Not sure what our problem was haha.
From there we went to Dark Universe for a cooldown and a drink. The Toothless queue had been in the sun for nearly an hour, and the show queue hadn't been much cooler. Stepping into Das Stakehaus, we were greeted by blessed darkness and cool air :D The whole ambiance is to make you feel like you're underground, among twisted tree roots and coffins shifting in the soil of the walls. The lighting is reddish and dim, and it flickers every once in a while whenever Frankenstein's daughter harnesses the town's electricity for one of her experiments.

In other words, it's a VERY cool restaurant!

(stock image. I'm sorry for all the stock images but I was far more intent on enjoying my experience than being an influencer!)

Jameson had a spiced beer, and I enjoyed a Darkthorne Mead which was a very tangy, sweet cider featuring blackberries, vanilla, and spices. Jameson took a lot of footage here for his mom, who enjoys all things spooky.

Outside the restaurant it is quite themed too. Some vampires on display:


As we were rounding a corner we saw Bride of Frankenstein doing a meet-and-greet! Couldn't resist!
We had a big ol' philosophical discussion. She knew right away that I was a musician....I wonder how.... ;)

CLICK HERE to see our interaction with Bride of Frankenstein



I'm kind of going out of order here, but actually the first thing we did when we got to Darkmoor / Dark Universe was try to ride Monsters Unchained. I was very apprehensive about it, but Jameson really wanted to try it so I screwed up my courage.

Nothing to do with monsters....EVERYTHING to do with MOTION SICKNESS.

The queue was incredibly themed and amazing to walk through, I'm sure there will be MANY spoilers soon (HERE is one of the ride.) The preshow is apparently amazing too...but we didn't get that far. Right before the preshow is a holding area where they show you what the ride will be like...yikes. I could feel the blood draining from my face as I watched the seats jerk around, sideways and around and nearly upside-down. Nope. Even just 5 minutes of that was going to be too much. Universal is known for using high-res screens and simulated motion to create an immersive experience. This is not something that my brand of motion sickness can handle, at all. Jameson and I looked at each other, then backed out, following the single-rider lane out to the gift shop.

I'm sorry that we missed out, but also, crisis averted. This was a definite case of "know thyself." Many other people will greatly enjoy this ride. For us, it would have ended the day!

We returned to Super Nintendo World to ride some rides we KNEW we could handle lol.
The Mario Kart ride was awesome! First the queue, which was themed to look like Bowser's castle study. The second part was a factory for the Bomber Bills and Bob-ombs, I didn't record that part. Bowser's study was great, I loved the titles of the books, the Bowser-sized furniture, and the little Boos floating around!

CLICK HERE to see my footage of Mario Kart queue

The ride itself uses Augmented Reality, which is just so incredibly cool and immersive. It felt like you were really in the game at times! There probably won't be many POVs of this ride because cameras won't be able to focus through the AR goggles. If you've played Mario Kart, it's very similar. Jameson got 117 coins, I won with 132! TAKE THAT MUAHAHAHAHAAAA :p

(stock image)

We rode Yoshi's Adventure as well. It's meant for little kids BUT is worth riding for the incredible view of Nintendo World. HERE'S a good clip of the ride in Japan, the one in Orlando is exactly the same.

We went back to the gift shops for the items we'd picked out earlier, then returned to Ministry of Magic for dinner.
Neither of us were deeply hungry, so we treated ourselves to butterbeer and butterbeer crepes.
I got to try the crepes during restaurant testing/rehearsal, but Jameson had never had them and he loved them.
Definitely one of the best dessert offerings in the parks!


We cast a few more spells, including a kite shop spell that blasted air on us and a mysterious shop where a Demiguise apparated and then faded away. So cool.
We then walked the Ministry of Magic queue. The ride was not open (it's had troubles since day one), but the queue is so immersive, incredible, themed, and MASSIVE, you have GOT to check it out!

THIS Attractions Magazine footage is better than what I got, so check it out! Simply astounding.

We hit one more gift shop, then it was after 7pm and time for us to leave.

Wow.

Such an incredible experience, that we were grateful to have.
Being able to see and do as much as we did, without massive crowds and essentially for free/at significantly reduced cost, and with a fraction of the wait times, is something that will NEVER happen again in our lifetimes. This was an experience I'll never forget!!

Back home, I lined up our modest merch haul for a photo.


Jameson got the Mario Kart magnets for himself.
He also bought me that Place Cachee picture frame shaped like the Phoenix Arch. He got it so I can put my first decent show photo in it. This was so thoughtful and sweet! I can't wait to find a good photo for it!

For myself, I got a Chain Chomp shirt and a matching Chain Chomp enamel pin (Jameson saw it at the register so I HAD to get it lol)
The Japanese text says "Wanwan," that's what Chain Chomp was originally called. "Wan wan" is the sound of a dog barking.

My wand is pictured just because I've shared it here in Friends Only posts, but not in public ones (I think.)
We also kept our Bar Moonshine cups as a sort of souvenir.

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I know I've said it like 80 times but this was such an incredible experience.

I know that the park will be packed and crazy and expensive the minute it opens. But in a year or two, if you have a chance to visit, I highly recommend it. There is no other theme park like it out there. Even with previews (not all rides working, not all restaurants and shops open) we had an incredible time, and this is going to be well worth a visit for anyone coming to Orlando.

Thanks for following my journey of working for Epic Universe, and getting to experience it!

Starting today, there will be LOADS of footage of the entire park.
The jig is up, the secret is revealed!

I cannot wait to work in coming days and see footage of our show popping up!!

Thursday I was up at 8 which is late for me anymore.

Breakfast and finished timestamping my bootleg of the tour I'm gonna do this summer, then sort of rushed through breakfast because I am ITCHING to practice this music! I've been waiting for it for a long time. It would have been nice to get it from the actual touring company, but whatever, I'm sure they're super busy with all sorts of other logistics plus it's possible our arrangements aren't even finished yet.

That's right, the part I was given by the guy doing this show in Australia isn't even the part I'll be playing. It's a lot closer, but his version of the music is for a stationary show. A touring show will require changes to set pieces for easier breakdown, and changes to staging to accommodate many stage sizes, and changes to the choreo too. Likewise the music will have more cuts and reorchestrations based on all of these changes that happen on stage. Regardless, being able to practice the actual part is a HUGE leap forward from practicing the 1990s version part, which is what I've been doing up until now.

Anyway, I practiced most of the first act. Right before lunch I went to the bank to deposit some savings bonds that have been sitting around forever. Most of them are within the last 2-3 years of maturity, and I don't feel it's worth the few dollars to keep them lying around when our country is going down the toilet.

Back home, lunch and even more practice just because I am so pleased to have the part!
Then relaxing with Jameson for two hours before driving to my lesson with Will.

Meet Will, who like Jameson is a raging Cubs fan:


This is a "bad" picture of him, he'll be mad that I shared it :p
My lesson went ok, but it's clear that I need to actually get into a routine now that Will's given me all of these exercises to do. I've been kind of grab-bagging exercises, and need to play them daily and consistently instead. Decided that I'm gonna start with deep breathing and stacked breathing, followed by sustaining long tones with a stopwatch, then interval exercises and mouthpiece buzzing, then Rochut melodies, and THEN I can hit the tour music after doing all that.

Second half of the lesson was spent on gear. I need straight, cup, and plunger mutes for bass trombone, and Will has extras of all of these that he was able to let me borrow. He also let me try his new 3D-printed mutes, which I was skeptical of but they really do sound fantastic. Which is a shame because I'd rather save money and use free/cheap mutes! But now I'm tempted to get the new ones!

Here is a traditional aluminum trombone mute on the left, and a 3D-printed Morningstar mute on the right.


To show the bottom of the Morningstar mute, which comes in several metal options (copper, aluminum, brass):


They don't look very different, but there are some important differences. The Morningstar mute is significantly bigger, which isn't necessarily "better" but is probably one reason why they sound so good. It also won't dent during transport because it's 3D-printed. And it doesn't use cork, which dries out and breaks. Instead he uses a velcro system that is actually adjustable so you can move the mute further in or out to get the sound you want. I thought all of this was a gimmick until I tried it...it's not, it's actually very functional and an improvement over traditional mutes which have not seen much innovation since time immemorable. The creator is an actual trombonist too, so my trust level is high. He lives here in Orlando(!) and I'm gonna meet with him in April to try the other types of mutes, schedule permitting.

Will sent me home with his old mutes to play with, plus a gig bag! My monstrous road case is great, but for just getting my bass around town locally a gig bag will be very convenient. I might buy it from him.

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Friday morning, I woke up to an email from our Australian Angel (the trombonist doing my show on the opposite side of the globe.) He'd sent me the French horn part! I quickly forwarded it to Sarah, the French hornist joining me on tour and who sent me frantic texts last week asking if I'd gotten any updates. She'll be thrilled! Super grateful that musicians are willing to help musicians, sort of regardless of any "consequences." This isn't some black market music smuggling ring; we just want to go into rehearsal at our absolute best for this show, and need to see the music in advance to do that.

I poked away online until Jameson got up, then had a rather productive day:

     - washed and seasoned our new saute pan which had shown up last night while I was at Will's
     - practiced bass for an hour
     - took old tax documents and void checks to UPS to be shredded
     - called my doctor to set up a regular checkup in May
     - called my bank to close an inactive checking account
     - dusted
     - trimmed the banana tree

...and went for a neighborhood walk.
The weather today was warm, breezy and 75F (23.8C) and there won't be many more days like this.


One of our neighbors has planted these gorgeous roses.


Back home lunch and a shower, Jameson had an afternoon meeting so I did quiet things like dumping transcription files to an external drive, looking for wallpapers for my new iPad, and researching getting a will. I'm not all that old and I don't have loads of assets, but there are things like my trombones that are rare and valuable and I'd like for those to be handled properly, and would like to leave as little work for my younger siblings as possible whenever I cack it.

While doing that I was surprised to see an email from Epic Universe land in my inbox...an invitation to queue up for PREVIEW TICKETS!!!

(This girl from the Epic commercials is essentially my inner child right now)

Since we are not Universal employees, we have been barred from participating in several other Team Member events that have already taken place. None of us had our hopes up to be included in the park previews. Our third party employer must have advocated for us to get these. I was quick to write them an email GUSHING thanks, then jump into the queue!

Only a limited number of guests may preview the park each day, so just like a popular concert on TicketMaster, you've got to dive into the fray and get that reservation ASAP. It was lucky I'd been working and had my email open to see it come in. Even so, available tickets for the day we wanted were at 10% remaining when I got through just 10 minutes later!! Crazy.

But now, I WILL GET TO SEE ALL OF EPIC UNIVERSE!!!
I may bring one guest, and since I have no friends it's Jameson again. You can bet he doesn't mind!!
I will bring my wand, and we can zap everything we can in the Ministry of Magic!
And we will eat treats and drink drinks and ride rides! And, and...!!

Aaaaah!

Ok, ok, back to the present.

I got our tickets all set up, worked on my will a bit more, did a load of laundry, and when my iPad case arrived I installed that. Ate leftover meatballs with Jameson until he left for a party with friends. After he left I enjoyed several hours to myself to relax. Lit a candle, made tea, watched anime, researched what to check out at Epic Universe. I still have so much to do in coming days...but I also did a lot today, and gotta remind myself that it's ok to do nothing, too.

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Saturday, I had a new transcription job and got started on it. Jameson slept late so I was itching to practice trombone by the time he got up. Practiced, hit the grocery store for dinner ingredients, packed for Disney tomorrow.

More transcription in the afternoon, then made a chicken pot pie for dinner that tasted great but turned out runny, and it was supposed to have a puff pastry "crust" but it didn't work at all. I ended up having to scrape wet puff pastry off the top of the pie, and we were left with only the parts that hadn't touched the filling. Lame. Next time I'll have to par-bake the pastry separately I think.

I felt restless today overall. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

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Sunday, up at 5:30am to make coffee and put in an hour of transcription.
Stopped at 7am to hit Publix for croissants, which when heated in the air fryer become crispy enough that they can be used as a "crust" topping for the pot pie leftovers. More transcription, breakfast, off to Disney with tenor and bass trombone in tow.

It was a cloudy day, but it didn't rain and we didn't get out of anything :p
We did have a shortened second parade because it looked like rain, and the flag retreat was shortened as well because huge thunderheads were rolling toward us, lightning visible. No explorations today, I just practiced bass and tenor and shot the sh*t with the guys.
It was a good day.

Grocery store sushi on the way home, hot tea when I got home.
Jameson has begun putting together a LEGO Piano set that he got at a discount. It's huge and I've no idea where it will live, but maybe we'll figure that out by the time he's finished it!


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Monday & Tuesday: Days "off." Lots of transcription, probably gonna make us Chicago dogs.

Wednesday & Thursday: Epic Universe. Gosh, it's been forever, do I even remember the show? Lol

In closing: Did you know that ChatGPT can make any picture you give it into an anime version? I fed it two photos and they are adorable!

(It's Been A While Since I Did A DISCLAIMER: The viewpoints and opinions expressed in this post and throughout this blog are my own, and do not reflect the viewpoints or opinions of my employers, including Disney, Universal, Epic Universe, Warner Brothers, and any other parties mentioned herein. I take full responsibility for my own content.)

Thursday up early for Epic.

Started the day a bit cranky as often happens when one gets up at 5:30am.
But it was a nice day, we had good sets, and I was happy to think that tomorrow Jameson will be here to enjoy the park!

(picture of the Toothless and Hiccup meet and greet available at Isle of Berk.)

And then,
throughout the day,
people FINALLY started communicating with me!!

First my boss at Main Street Philharmonic communicated to ask if I'd like to do a rehearsal next week.
So I communicated with my transcription boss and asked if I could reduce my workload by one hour.
He communicated back right away with a yes, so I scheduled the rehearsal. This will not only be additional money, but a chance to work on memorizing the Trombone 2 book, which I've slacked off on last week.

Then, the music coordinator for the tour I've ACCEPTED finally communicated three days after I'd reached out to him, apologizing for the delay and confirming that YES, I am CONFIRMED and itineraries will be sent out SOON. Thank god! I felt bad for having heckled him, but also three months of dead silence is a very long time to sit meekly and trust that someone still intends to employ you.

Finally, I communicated with the Asian tour that I HADN'T yet accepted, to politely and regretfully decline their offer. I made sure to express how much I wished I could have done it, and asked them to keep my 'fo on file for future opportunities.
The MD communicated back to say he'd absolutely keep me on file. Yay!

I guess I'm sorry to have worried and complained as much as I did?
But not really.
I am a human with obligations and commitments and needs just like everyone else, and limits to my patience just like everyone else.

After work I went to Whole Paycheck, made myself a hot bar plate, and just kinda hung out because Will lives 20 minutes away so it was easier to just stay in the area before my lesson. The lesson went "ok," but this was my first one after a day of playing tenor trombone at Epic. Switching horns was weird. I'll have to remember that for next week and see if I can mitigate it.

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Friday, a normal day but unusually cold.
( Shirt Shenanigans )

Aaaanyway, I was a bit nervous for Jameson being there to see the show, but when the time came we had a great energetic crowd and he stood right in front to watch :) I was so happy to see him! I only wish we'd had our prop, with our little animatronic puffskein. Ah well, he will be able to watch videos of it online quite soon.

My day went completely normally, I left Jameson alone knowing that he had a limited time to enjoy as much as possible today and wanted him to have that experience without interruptions. After work, Whole Paycheck for wings, and they were giving away Irish soda bread(!) so I HAD to take a loaf!

Back home I got cleaned up and chilled until Jameson got home to tell me about his "Epic" day (ha-ha)
He first of all said that he LOVED our band. Not just because I'm in it and he's biased :p but because he's a musician too. He said that we sounded tight, we were energetic and entertaining, and after seeing almost all of the other "atmosphere" entertainment in the other worlds, he felt that none compared to how good we sounded or how put together we were. That was big flattery and I passed it on to my bandmates right away :)

He got to spend a lot of time in Super Nintendo Land and loved it, and ate at Le Gobelet Noir and said it was exceptionally good. A lot of rides and experiences were unfortunately down today, but he did get to ride some rides and saw most of the major stage shows. He was impressed by the How to Train Your Dragon show but said some of the effects were not quite working right today. And he was blown away by the Cirque Arcanus show...like REALLY blown away, which was awesome to hear because I was ALSO blown away by it and have been dying for him to see it. It's truly a crown jewel of the whole park. I bet Warner Bros will win a load of awards for it.

He must have had a truly amazing time because he raved about all he'd experienced for a solid hour, and said it had been a fantastic day! Also, he did most of this experience with Kristen, his longtime friend and one of my bosses at Epic Universe, and Jodie, another dear friend who had a hand in the actual construction of the Ministry of Magic. She was able to tell him all kinds of insider stuff related to the buildings and artistry and such.

I was so, so happy for him, that he got to experience this park! Once it opens it'll be packed solid for YEARS. This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I'm so grateful to Kristen for getting him (and Jodie!) in!

(Jodie, Kristen, and Jameson in front of the Ministry of Magic portal)

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Saturday I slept poorly and was up early to do transcription, but the job was sent later than expected so I didn't get started until 9. Plugged away at it until lunch, then trombone practice and a trip to Publix just for cottage cheese, then packed breakfast and lunch for tomorrow.
Then more transcription.

Somewhere in there, our Epic Universe scheduler wrote to say that next week we will have two paid days off!!
This is because the park will be "dark" on the 26th and 27th (i.e. it won't be open for guest previews) but it seems Universal forgot to tell our third party employer that. So they scheduled us as usual, but we aren't even allowed to be on property. At first they tried to schedule an off-site rehearsal, but I guess it didn't work out.

I'm EXTREMELY grateful that we can still be paid!!

Jameson relaxed for most of the day, his knees were bothering him after stomping around Epic all day yesterday.
We had pizza and air fryer wings for dinner, and watched the season finale of Severance. What a crazy, innovative show.

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Sunday, subbing in at the Magic Kingdom.

I decided to take my bass trombone, to practice and to show to Tony (Main Street Phil bass trombonist.)
This was my first time actually using the heavy duty, hardshell trombone case that I got for this bass.
The wheels turned out to be a huge lifesaver! I am ABLE to carry it, but it's very heavy and difficult while also carrying my tenor trombone and my backpack. The wheels saved me a lot of sweat and backache.

This case:


Tony liked my trombone a lot. He played it a bit, and also gave me tips on breathing and finding the center of the pitch instead of wibbling around (like I tend to do.) I also practiced throughout the day between sets, and that was so nice that I'll probably do it again! Notice how I'm always trying to do two jobs at once :p

There was a new signed drumhead in the band's dressing room:

(Do not share this picture, please.)

This is from the Disneyland Band!
The two bands exchanged signed drumheads during their visit last week. How adorable :)

It was a normal day, two parades and two sets and the flag retreat. I enjoyed it very much, got my bass practice done, got to see lots of smiling and happy Disney guests, and got my 17,000 steps / 7 miles of walking.

Back home, unpacked cleaned up and relaxed with Jameson. He found a Savannah Bananas game on TV! That was fun to watch.

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Monday: "Day off," mostly transcription, trombone practice, maybe some chores.

Tuesday: Magic Kingdom rehearsal day.

Wednesday: A PAID day off!!! Wow!!!