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taz_39**Disclaimer: The content of this post reflects my own personal views, opinions, and experiences.
This post does NOT express the views or opinions of my employer.**
Covid Tests to Date: 45
No TikTok this week because they are a lot of work and I didn't feel like it.
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Monday was a "Golden Day", meaning a true day off.
No shows to do, no packing up and traveling all day to get to the next city.
We only get THREE of these on the whole tour.
A lot of people went to the beach, or to the pool and bar up on the hotel's top floor, or home for visits.
I decided to do a "Treat Yo Self" day.
Have you watched Parks and Rec? No? Here's an explanation of "Treat Yo Self":
My idea of "Treat Yo Self", if I can't spend time with Jameson, is to eat more than I should of foods that I shouldn't be eating while doing absolutely nothing else for the entire day :p
So today, for LUNCH because I'm an adult and can do what I want, I went to Wilton Creamery where the ice cream is made in-house in a variety of wacky flavors. Lactose in hand, I marched up to the counter and asked for "The Flight": three half-cup scoops of three different flavors of homemade ice cream.
They have so many flavors to choose from! But I knew right away which ones I wanted to try.
Grapenut:
Exactly what it sounds like. Malt ice cream with softened Grape Nut cereal mixed in. If you like the flavor of malt and/or barley, you will absolutely LOVE this ice cream. I loved it and would eat it every day if possible. It was my favorite of the three.
Christopher Loves Chocolate:
I don't know who Christopher is but he's got great taste. This was 70% cacao dark chocolate regular-cream ice cream, not as sweet as the others, with big chunks of dark chocolate mixed in and swirls of chocolate fudge. Indulgence at it's finest.
I love dark chocolate and eat it almost daily, but tbh this was my least favorite of the three and I couldn't really tell you why. Maybe the other two were just that good.
Monkey Business:
A banana buttermilk ice cream(!) with pralined pecans and swirls of dulce de leche. This was the softest of the three ice creams, melting very quickly and with a very rich texture. It was also the sweetest of the three. Extremely good and I only wish it had been served a bit colder so I could have savored it a bit longer.
The TikTok:
TikTok by @tromboneontour
I highly recommend visiting Wilton Creamery (and Wilton in general) if you are ever in Fort Lauderdale.
The owner was awesome, I enjoyed chatting with him as I savored every bite of this special treat.
The ice cream was more than I could have hoped for, fresh and decadent and unique and just the indulgence I wanted.
Someday I want to come back and try more flavors, or maybe get one of their over-the-top sundaes.
After ice cream I walked to Dulce Salato Pizza & Gelato, (which I assume was named re: "Domo Arigato Mr. Robato"), where I picked up a personal-pan Margherita pizza to take home for lupper/dinner. I enjoyed it with a glass of Sauvignon blanc.
Truly a fully indulgent, "Treat Yo Self" day.
It's moments like these where I truly savor the fact that I do not have children. GOD it's so beautiful.
Any time I want to go do--well, whatever I want--I can.
No babysitter, no tantrums, no compromises, no deadlines.
Just me and my two feet instantly out the door to get three scoops of ice cream and a whole pizza, and a nice white wine buzz to boot.
I absolutely ADORE not having kids. Extremely grateful to live in a time where I can get away with it.
Anyway.
To cap off a fabulous day of gluttony, I watched Kids Baking Championship "with" Jameson, and then finally watched Disney's Encanto.
Every single social media and streaming outlet that I subscribe to has been pushing this movie at me for, like, months. And it has good reviews. And it's been ages since I actualy Watched A Movie. So, ok! And it WAS ok. Not great as far as plot, but gorgeous and meticulous animation, and like many Disney/Pixar movies lately there was a focus on shared emotion...on a specific shared emotion, which in this case was one's children being "never good enough" for their parents. When that undercurrent was finally brought to the surface in the movie, I felt it resonate hard inside me. Ouch. But that's certainly why many people find it a relatable and good movie.
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Tuesday, since we didn't relocate to a new city there is no sound check, meaning nearly a full second day off!
I returned to my regularly scheduled eating program.
Egg whites and herbs, rustic bread, almond butter and fruit for breakfast.
Salad with grilled chicken breast, avocado, and rustic bread for lunch.
Rice and lean beef and marinated veggies for dinner.
Fresh fruit and nuts and seeds and yogurt and dark chocolate for snacks.
Binge days are fun and special. And it's their rarity that makes them so :)
In the afternoon I walked to Publix because I'm trying to avoid Fresh Market ($$), and got two Eat Fresco meals for our matinee days so I don't have to pack dinners. Later on I Ubered to the theatre (company Uber account, don't worry this isn't me wasting money) and we had a nice show and got a partial itinerary for Atlanta. Bill (trumpet) will continue to sub with us through Atlanta. I think our bass sub will be out on Friday and our regular guy, Bobby, will be back in.
Also forgot to mention that I picked up a new loaf of bread from Gran Forno, the raisin fennel bread I'd ordered last week.
It's very good, but IMO they added too many fennel seeds, to the point where it's more bitter than it needs to be.
Still delicious, but I probably wouldn't order this kind again.
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Wednesday, woke up from weird dreams and had breakfast.
Debated walking to the theatre since we have matinees today, but was concerned about carrying my dinner with me (I have paranoia about food poisoning). So ended up Ubering. Today was our last day with our bass sub. He did a great job! But we have missed Bobby and will be glad to have him back. There was a decent crowd for the matinee, more people than I was expecting, and they were a great audience.
Between shows I walked to a thrift store which turned out to be a furniture thrift store, so nothing for me to dig through, boo hoo.
So instead I read a book and ate dinner and budgeted for Atlanta and played around with a backstage dance bar.
After the show some people went to a whiskey tasting nearby, but I don't like whiskey and am antisocial and don't like to start my night at 11pm, so all of that meant I went to bed.
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Thursday. I woke up slightly early to do laundry, and had breakfast, and saw that it was supposed to rain later in the day.
I walked to Publix just to ensure that I got exercise, getting oatmeal because I'm almost out, and a few pieces of fruit, and some ground coffee because I'm almost out of that too. On the way back I stopped inside a Sears (those are still open?) and it was very sad. One or two sales associates actively avoiding anyone who came in, no dressing rooms to try things on, all the merch randomly displayed thrift-style in the center of the floor with loads of empty warehouse space all around. Yikes.
The rest of my day was spent eating meals, bookmarking jobs, and watching Children of the Sea.
The show went well. Our bass player is back and it made a big difference. Yay!
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Friday, a slow day with nothing planned.
I started packing up a few things around the room, although we aren't leaving until noon on Sunday so there's plenty of time yet.
I watched the first few episodes of Downton Abbey, which I've never seen.
After lunch I took a walk around the Sistrunk Market area. I'd wanted to go to the market but have kind of overspent in this city, so instead I admired the street art.
One building housed a tea and spice shop.
I tend toward digestive issues at night, so had been meaning to pick up some peppermint tea.
And I'd rather get it from a local business than a big box.
Back in my room I enjoyed the tea very much. I'll drink it before or after dinner for a while and see if it helps my guts.
The show was fine, Josh (Key 1) decided to swap books with our MD, so he conducted and played key 2 while Soto (our MD) played key 1. Everything went smoothly and it looked like they both had fun :)
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Saturday, matinee day.
Breakfast, packed dinner, shower, Uber to the theatre. Two covid tests and down to the pit to get started.
The show went fine, and then we had a break during which I went for a brief walk and found a huge golden orb weaver spider but couldn't get a good picture, then ate dinner and played with TikTok until the next show. Which also went well.
Sorry if this week seems "boring"....the truth is, work days in entertainment can be repetitive just like at any other job!
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Sunday was exciting because we only had one show at 1pm, and it was our 100th!
Well, it depends on how you count. If you include preview shows our 100th was actually on Friday.
But it appears we are not counting preview shows so here we are.
Free cupcakes to celebrate! I chose key lime.
Our final show was nice. Afterward I packed up and got back to the hotel, then one last walk to Publix for a PubSub for lunch tomorrow.
We are leaving late, around noon, so I can eat the sub on the bus and spare myself the cost of an airport meal.
I packed some more and just enjoyed Netflix and random internetting for the rest of the night.
Next stop, Atlanta.
We are staying right next to the Fox Theatre, how awesome!
I should have some fun adventures to share here.
I want to visit the Georgia Aquarium, and eat at a Japanese cafe, and spend time at Ponce City Market.
And I have some friends in town from Busch Gardens and the circus, it'll be nice to see them!
Look forward to it. I am!
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Writing Prompts 2022:
12/17: What's the most creative use of emojis you've ever seen?
A: The webcomic Room of Swords. There's a character named Sylvia who is a caveperson/neanderthal, and she speaks exclusively in emojis, and it's endearing and fantastic.
12/18: Where do you get most of your news?
A: A combination of places. For "mindless" or clickbait news I use Facebook or the News app on my phone. If I want to actually know what's going on out there I use Google News for the initial search, then when I see a topic/event that I want to read more about, search reports from different outlets on the same topic/event.
12/19: What's the biggest challenge in your life right now?
A: You know...most of the challenges in my life right now originate from outside my own life. It's a challenge to be present and supportive for the people I love. It's a challenge to find the distinction between what people want from me, vs what they actually need from me, vs what I cannot provide and must be found on their own. There is a huge amount of uncertainty in my own life, and in many important lives around me, and it's hard to take even the smallest action without knowledge of what's down the road.
12/20: Think about a job you hated. What did you learn from it?
A: That being treated like a human being is of much higher value than being paid well (although being paid well is also part of being treated like a human being). I had a job that paid pretty decently, and had a lot of room for advancement. But the boss treated me like I was his personal servant, like my time was his time all the time, and like my time "at work" could be spent doing basically anything he demanded, as opposed to my actual job description. The straw finally came when I was trying to leave at the end of my shift, and my boss walked in and demanded that I help record a commercial for him using his phone camera. I had already clocked out so I refused, but he demanded that I clock back in, shoved the phone into my hand and said, "You don't know anyone in this town, you have nowhere to be right now." And that was the beginning of the end of that.
12/21: What's your least favorite room in the house?
A: In the current house? The living room. Listen, I still like every room in our house including this one. But I want to make it more comfortable, and it doesn't want to be more comfortable. It's full of junk drawers and food particles no matter how frequently I clean. We badly, badly need a new couch. When guests come over they have to sit on the floor. It's just...it needs help.
12/22: How fast do you read?
A: Talking about ACTUALLY READING, like, reading a book, not skimming a tweet or clickbait. Reading books as opposed to skimming, I read moderate-fast. When reading for pleasure I'm pretty fast, but I really like to absorb and be immersed in the imagery of the book, so I'm not going to rush it. When reading for instruction I read extra slow and force myself to pay attention, and it takes longer. If I really like the book I can finish an 800-pager in two weeks or so just casually reading it.
12/23: What are some of your favorite candies?
A: In no order: Caramellos, Sunkist Fruit Gems, any dark chocolate 70% cacao or more, candied orange peels, Whitman's chocolates, Starburst jelly beans, Albanese gummi bears, red Swedish fish, homemade caramels or toffee, and more I'm probably forgetting.
