Here it is, the hectic final week before our second layoff!
Two shows in Johnson City, a one-nighter in Blacksburg VA, a long travel day to Worcester involving both buses and planes, and then a weekend of matinees. Goodness.
I've booked myself a massage in Worcester, because even though I hate being touched I need to find the source of this weird twinging in my side, and since I carry a lot of tension in my back and neck let's get it loosened up first. Then I've made an appointment with our tour's traveling physical therapy specialist. They're usually booked solid (I mean, people are DANCING up there, obviously they need PT first and foremost) but I managed to squeeze in on the coming Saturday.
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On Monday we loaded the bus and got going. It was a typical ride, but I was excited.
Our lunch stop was at some mall, which I could care less about...but next to the mall was Prostor Market, an Eastern European supermarket! As soon as we arrived I sped through the mall (they parked on the opposite side that I needed, go figure, but hey I got some steps in) and dashed across the parking lot in the rain.
( CLICK HERE for European Market! )
We rode the bus the rest of the way to the hotel and arrived with no time to do anything but throw our luggage in the room, get changed, and rush to the theatre for sound check. The theater has a very deep pit so we can't see the audience at all, and I can only see the ceiling which is bland and beige. Oh well, we're only here for two nights.
The show went well except that we had to stop and hold in the middle of the show again, I'm not sure what for but this is the third time it's happened this week. Now I suspect that something is actually broken, and they're trying to make it to the layoff with the broken part?
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Tuesday I woke up feeling like I'd been hit by a truck. Johnson City is a bit higher in altitude so that's certainly part of it, but also just doing a lot of shows and then cramming onto a bus every other day will take its toll. I typed up this post and had breakfast, making sure to hydrate EXTRA, then Ubered off to do laundry. That went smoothly, so from there walking to Earth Fare for some travel groceries.
On the way I had some long texts with Jameson, who got some bad news about his hand (he injured it while playing keyboard several months ago, and it has not gotten better and is painful for him every day.) The doctor says there is little to nothing that they can do for him, and that his best bet is to wait and see if it improves or changes. Not what he'd been hoping to hear. Being in pain when you wake up, all day, and when you go to bed...and then being told "Just wait and see"...yeah. Not ideal.
I want to believe that it will get better, and he'll be ok. But mostly, I'm worried about what this will do to his mental health.
Right now there's not much I can do except express that I'm here for him, for anything.
At the grocery it felt like I was doing math, trying to calculate what I could or could not buy, what I'd eat before the flight on Thursday, what could survive 3 hours on a bus, etc. But I think I did a pretty good job of not overdoing it. They had lemon plums which I'd seen before but never tried; now's the time! Don't they look weird?
Once I got it home I found out that they're not ripe until the whole fruit is the reddish color of the tip. So I'll have to wait, and/or this Weird Nipple Plum is coming with me on a plane. Emotional Support Plum. Lol.
I did a partial luggage packing and ate lunch, then continued mathing out my meals in MyFitnessPal. Partly for nutrition like I always do, and partly to see how long my food will last and what is likely to end up in my luggage instead of being consumed in the next 48 hours. It's a pain in the butt but I don't like to waste food, and looking ahead helps to prevent that.
In the late afternoon our drummer Laura arranged for a cute Galentine's meet up at the hotel pool, with all the ladies of the orchestra! She made us strawberry cream Baileys shots, and brought us cupcakes iced to look like roses. So thoughtful of her! It was my first Galentine's celebration ever :) I didn't stay long, but it was nice to have a moment with the ladies.
After that I had to call maintenance to my room because my cheap aquarium thermometer let me know that the fridge was not getting below 50°F (10°C) which is NOT safe for food storage. It was a brand new fridge too, there were still pieces of packaging stuck to it. The maintenance guy confirmed that I was NOT crazy, it was too warm and it must have a bad compressor. Switched it out and the new fridge is fine, but I didn't feel safe about my turkey wrap I'd gotten for the bus ride (also the warm fridge had leaked condensation into the container and now it was soggy :/) so I did end up throwing that out. Everything else was unopened yogurt and protein and fruit though, so I felt it was still in the "ok" range.
The joys of minifridges. Glad that I started carrying cheap thermometers with me exactly for this reason!!
The evening show was mostly good, but we had ANOTHER hold that interrupted the show.
We are now up to FOUR of these and it's unprofessional and ridiculous. I do not know the details about what is causing these show interruptions, but it has to be some sort of issue with moving large setpieces or with a recurring safety concern, I don't think anything else would stop our shows four times in a row like this. We still have six shows to go before the layoff, I really hope they get it worked out because it's been very disruptive, and not what people are paying to see. I can't be the only one annoyed about this.
After the show there was a wall tag to sign (on canvas, which means the theatre will be able to move it! See that![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
marlinkhylacat ?) but the lighting backstage at this theatre is all ultraviolet blue for some reason, so there was NO way to get a decent pic :/ Signed it and loaded onto the bus back to the hotel.
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Wednesday (Valentine's Day!) was weird because we didn't leave our hotel until 11:30am. That's pretty late, but it's because Blacksburg VA is only about 2.5 hours away, and if we get there before 3pm we won't be able to check in. So I got to enjoy a slow morning and taking my time packing before we loaded onto the bus. Which one of our cast members decorated for Valentine's Day!
We rode our romantic charter bus through the mountains, and arrived with enough time to ACTUALLY unpack and get ready for the show for once. I was fortunate to get the handicap-accessible room, with a wide-open floor plan and a whole living room setup. Too bad we're only here for a few hours.
The Moss Center for the Arts, on the campus of Virginia Tech, is a beautiful building inside and out.
I snuck out to the lobby to have a peek, having seen these hexagonal windows on the ride in. Very beautiful.
The show was sold out, and FOR ONCE we didn't have a hold! Thank god!
But during "Just You Wait" some diphthongs rained down on me. What strange weather they have here in Virginia ;)
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Now it's late and I have to get to bed, because we have a heck of a travel day tomorrow.
First a 3-hour bus ride to Raleigh International (WHY, omg) then a flight to Boston, then another bus from Boston to Worcester during rush hour. Sigh. This layoff can't come soon enough.
Almost forgot: the handwashing signs backstage at this theatre had, instead of the standard "Effective Hand Washing" sign, this one that incorporated Lady MacBeth's monologue, in which she is attempting to wash a spot of blood from her hands in a dream.
Gave me a good laugh!
Two shows in Johnson City, a one-nighter in Blacksburg VA, a long travel day to Worcester involving both buses and planes, and then a weekend of matinees. Goodness.
I've booked myself a massage in Worcester, because even though I hate being touched I need to find the source of this weird twinging in my side, and since I carry a lot of tension in my back and neck let's get it loosened up first. Then I've made an appointment with our tour's traveling physical therapy specialist. They're usually booked solid (I mean, people are DANCING up there, obviously they need PT first and foremost) but I managed to squeeze in on the coming Saturday.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
On Monday we loaded the bus and got going. It was a typical ride, but I was excited.
Our lunch stop was at some mall, which I could care less about...but next to the mall was Prostor Market, an Eastern European supermarket! As soon as we arrived I sped through the mall (they parked on the opposite side that I needed, go figure, but hey I got some steps in) and dashed across the parking lot in the rain.
( CLICK HERE for European Market! )
We rode the bus the rest of the way to the hotel and arrived with no time to do anything but throw our luggage in the room, get changed, and rush to the theatre for sound check. The theater has a very deep pit so we can't see the audience at all, and I can only see the ceiling which is bland and beige. Oh well, we're only here for two nights.
The show went well except that we had to stop and hold in the middle of the show again, I'm not sure what for but this is the third time it's happened this week. Now I suspect that something is actually broken, and they're trying to make it to the layoff with the broken part?
------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday I woke up feeling like I'd been hit by a truck. Johnson City is a bit higher in altitude so that's certainly part of it, but also just doing a lot of shows and then cramming onto a bus every other day will take its toll. I typed up this post and had breakfast, making sure to hydrate EXTRA, then Ubered off to do laundry. That went smoothly, so from there walking to Earth Fare for some travel groceries.
On the way I had some long texts with Jameson, who got some bad news about his hand (he injured it while playing keyboard several months ago, and it has not gotten better and is painful for him every day.) The doctor says there is little to nothing that they can do for him, and that his best bet is to wait and see if it improves or changes. Not what he'd been hoping to hear. Being in pain when you wake up, all day, and when you go to bed...and then being told "Just wait and see"...yeah. Not ideal.
I want to believe that it will get better, and he'll be ok. But mostly, I'm worried about what this will do to his mental health.
Right now there's not much I can do except express that I'm here for him, for anything.
At the grocery it felt like I was doing math, trying to calculate what I could or could not buy, what I'd eat before the flight on Thursday, what could survive 3 hours on a bus, etc. But I think I did a pretty good job of not overdoing it. They had lemon plums which I'd seen before but never tried; now's the time! Don't they look weird?
Once I got it home I found out that they're not ripe until the whole fruit is the reddish color of the tip. So I'll have to wait, and/or this Weird Nipple Plum is coming with me on a plane. Emotional Support Plum. Lol.
I did a partial luggage packing and ate lunch, then continued mathing out my meals in MyFitnessPal. Partly for nutrition like I always do, and partly to see how long my food will last and what is likely to end up in my luggage instead of being consumed in the next 48 hours. It's a pain in the butt but I don't like to waste food, and looking ahead helps to prevent that.
In the late afternoon our drummer Laura arranged for a cute Galentine's meet up at the hotel pool, with all the ladies of the orchestra! She made us strawberry cream Baileys shots, and brought us cupcakes iced to look like roses. So thoughtful of her! It was my first Galentine's celebration ever :) I didn't stay long, but it was nice to have a moment with the ladies.
After that I had to call maintenance to my room because my cheap aquarium thermometer let me know that the fridge was not getting below 50°F (10°C) which is NOT safe for food storage. It was a brand new fridge too, there were still pieces of packaging stuck to it. The maintenance guy confirmed that I was NOT crazy, it was too warm and it must have a bad compressor. Switched it out and the new fridge is fine, but I didn't feel safe about my turkey wrap I'd gotten for the bus ride (also the warm fridge had leaked condensation into the container and now it was soggy :/) so I did end up throwing that out. Everything else was unopened yogurt and protein and fruit though, so I felt it was still in the "ok" range.
The joys of minifridges. Glad that I started carrying cheap thermometers with me exactly for this reason!!
The evening show was mostly good, but we had ANOTHER hold that interrupted the show.
We are now up to FOUR of these and it's unprofessional and ridiculous. I do not know the details about what is causing these show interruptions, but it has to be some sort of issue with moving large setpieces or with a recurring safety concern, I don't think anything else would stop our shows four times in a row like this. We still have six shows to go before the layoff, I really hope they get it worked out because it's been very disruptive, and not what people are paying to see. I can't be the only one annoyed about this.
After the show there was a wall tag to sign (on canvas, which means the theatre will be able to move it! See that
marlinkhylacat ?) but the lighting backstage at this theatre is all ultraviolet blue for some reason, so there was NO way to get a decent pic :/ Signed it and loaded onto the bus back to the hotel.---------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday (Valentine's Day!) was weird because we didn't leave our hotel until 11:30am. That's pretty late, but it's because Blacksburg VA is only about 2.5 hours away, and if we get there before 3pm we won't be able to check in. So I got to enjoy a slow morning and taking my time packing before we loaded onto the bus. Which one of our cast members decorated for Valentine's Day!
We rode our romantic charter bus through the mountains, and arrived with enough time to ACTUALLY unpack and get ready for the show for once. I was fortunate to get the handicap-accessible room, with a wide-open floor plan and a whole living room setup. Too bad we're only here for a few hours.
The Moss Center for the Arts, on the campus of Virginia Tech, is a beautiful building inside and out.
I snuck out to the lobby to have a peek, having seen these hexagonal windows on the ride in. Very beautiful.
The show was sold out, and FOR ONCE we didn't have a hold! Thank god!
But during "Just You Wait" some diphthongs rained down on me. What strange weather they have here in Virginia ;)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Now it's late and I have to get to bed, because we have a heck of a travel day tomorrow.
First a 3-hour bus ride to Raleigh International (WHY, omg) then a flight to Boston, then another bus from Boston to Worcester during rush hour. Sigh. This layoff can't come soon enough.
Almost forgot: the handwashing signs backstage at this theatre had, instead of the standard "Effective Hand Washing" sign, this one that incorporated Lady MacBeth's monologue, in which she is attempting to wash a spot of blood from her hands in a dream.
Gave me a good laugh!
