Closer and Closer

Friday was just a day to get through.

Nothing of interest whatsoever at work.
I read another LJ friend's post about the jobs she's in consideration for, and I felt embarrassed and ashamed, because she has skills for jobs that would pay $50 per hour, or $70k per year, and I will never in my life be worth that no matter what I learn to do.

Well anyway, after wrapping up my $14 per hour day, I drove home and ate a hurried dinner with Jameson before he took off for a performance at Epcot. I allowed myself a little time to relax, then did an hour of steno and a load of laundry and some dishes. Then I made the mistake of googling my rarest trombones (an Earl Williams 6 and a Minick .500, if any nerds are wondering) and found a pretty pristine Williams 6 for sale by a very reputable seller. Argh.

You see, my trombones are, like, VERY rare. They were handmade by some very skilled dudes back in the 50s and 60s.
To have one at all is really a privilege. I found mine while on the road with the circus, at the top of my performance game, so at that time I was able to detect misc subtleties about how each horn played, blah blah blah. The bottom line is, they are truly one of a kind. I think it's fair to say that the Williams at least is like the Stradivarius of the trombone world. No one has been able to replicate his work, and if you've got one, you've got gold.

So you can probably guess my concern. If something happens to my Williams or my Minick, it's OVER.
I can't have another one made. Any sort of major repair means they will likely never sound the same again.

To find another one for sale is kind of a big deal. My boss spent almost a decade looking for a Minick trombone before finding one. Minick .500 trombones are even rarer than a Williams of the same size, it's estimated that between 10-20 exist in the whole world. But tbh, Minick was more of a custom mod guy, so his horns have been found to be less consistent than Williams. Either way, when these trombones do go up for sale it's a rare event.

Argh.

I can't afford it, but wrote the seller all the same to ask if he'd take a payment plan. So lame.
All I can think about is having to check my trombone for a flight at some point in the next nine months, and the luggage guys flinging it around...

Anyway, anyway. Let's think about something else.

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Saturday is a day off since my schedule got all messed up this week.
I'm happy for the day of rest, but annoyed that I then have to go back to work for two random days before my weekend hits. I should be glad, but I'm annoyed. Maybe I'll get glad later.

So, Saturday I woke up and saw that one of the keyboardists for the tour has "made it public". Yay!
I am giving notice on Monday (I wanted it to be tomorrow but HR is not in on Sundays).
I can't wait, but also, time seems to be moving so quickly. My excitement and nervousness levels are definitely creeping up.

For breakfast, I decided I should test some of the equipment I'm bringing on the road with me!

First, the immersion coil. Following the directions, I stuck it fully in the water BEFORE plugging it in.
After a few minutes it was clearly doing its job.


While that was happening I set up the cute mini-skillet. Rubbed it with some olive oil.


This got hot WAY faster than I was expecting! I kinda messed up because I didn't leave enough oil in the pan, and then what was there started smoking before I'd realized how hot the pan had gotten. The eggs were still fine to eat, but I had to scrape some overcooked egg-flakes off the bottom of the pan.


The second attempt went much better. More oil, same temp but eggs went in almost immediately.
Eggs turned out perfectly.


This pan does not cook evenly whatsoever. For some reason the heating element is hottest farthest from the handle.
Not really surprising, this isn't exactly Michelin-star cookware over here.

All it means is that I will need to utilize the lid to help distribute heat when I turn the thing on, and also stir whatever I'm cooking a lot so that everything passes over the actual hot part of the pan. Yeah, it would be nice if it cooked evenly, but I have a feeling sending this back and getting a replacement would not make a difference...it's probably just how this cheap little skillet IS. Rather than trying to cook a whole chicken breast and have it cook unevenly, it will be better to chop my chicken up and stir it, that's all. This should work very well for most ground or chopped meats, eggs, and vegetables. I was hoping to be able to make rice in it too, but with the uneven heating that's probably not a good idea.

Meanwhile the immersion coil seemed like it was not going to get the water actually boiling (I've read that a lot of travel versions in the US will not *actually* boil water), so I unplugged it and poured the hot water into my French press. It certainly worked to make decent coffee, and it will be perfect for tea. Yay!

After breakfast I enjoyed some "Saturday morning cartoons" in the form of Boku no Hero Season 5, then wrote some emails to family, just to see how everyone is doing.

Now I'm typing this up, then will weed around the house, practice trombone and steno, and hopefully spend the rest of my day reading or relaxing, maybe even taking a dip in the pool for once.

The end of September creeps closer and closer.
Still can't believe this is happening.