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Tootsie Yr2: Dallas part 2
Thursday was basically a wash.
I felt very tired, perhaps because of the weather or maybe I was fighting the cold that's going around from entering my body.
Either way, I had a lovely indoor day of doing laundry, watching Ousama Ranking, researching jobs, updating Foodie Finds, and sharing Jameson's excitement as he flew to Chicago to MEET DARREN HAYES!!!!
Eeeeeeee!!!
If you don't know, Darren Hayes was the vocalist for Savage Garden, a popular 90s-2000s band.
You'd probably recognize the song "I Knew I Loved You", among others.
Jameson and Darren became internet friends somewhere in the late 2010s, and somewhere in there Darren asked Jameson to arrange some of his classic works to rejuvenate them for his albums and upcoming tour.
Darren is now on tour, and Jameson was able to finally meet Darren in person and hear his own arrangements performed live, in front of an audience of thousands, by his friend and pop idol. I mean HOW FREAKING COOL IS THAT!!!
To say I'm proud, happy, and excited for him would be the understatement of the year.
Jameson has worked very hard for musical recognition throughout his life, and often hasn't received it.
I hope that today was very rewarding for him, and fun, and a great experience.
His dad was there with him for all of it, which is absolutely wonderful.
It's got to be an amazing thing to be a proud parent watching your son hug a pop star, and listen to music your son wrote for said pop star, live to an arena full of people singing along. Just, amazing :)
Anyway, that's mostly what Thursday was for me.
Then we had a show which went well, but the band did get a note that we need to step up our game and stay focused, so I will try very hard to meet those expectations. I think that after playing a show 400+ times, perhaps we (I) can go into autopilot too much. I want to stay engaged and give the best possible performance each night!
-----------------------------------------------------------
Friday started off with disappointment: once again my sink was fully clogged.
I don't know why or how this is happening...all I've done is brush my teeth and wash my dishes (no I am NOT putting food in the drain either!). The hotel offered to have me switch rooms but then didn't have any rooms available, so I packed everything up anyway.
I waited around to see if maybe they'd move me in the next hour but it didn't happen, so walked to a convenience store for some fruit.
Along the way, this giant eyeball:
I wanted to get close but it was in a fenced-off area and it looked like you needed tickets (had I been in a better frame of mind I ABSOLUTELY would have. Maybe next week.)
I canceled lunch with my friend Brandon (the drummer who came to our show a few nights ago). It was just stressing me out to be waiting around when the hotel could call any minute to have me move and we might be out somewhere, plus Brandon revealed that he wouldn't be ready until 2pm which is WAY too late for lunch for me personally (my body still thinks it's east coast time, remember). I'll try to catch him again next week.
Around lunchtime I got the ok to move to another room, so off I went, riding elevators up and down, dragging luggage, unpacking everything, stealing the microwave in the old room because the new room didn't have one and I'm rude like that. By the time I was all moved in and unpacked it was close to 2:30, so I was glad I'd canceled on Brandon though I felt bad about it.
It was a lovely sunny day out, but as I only had 2-3 hours until dinnertime/show prep I wasted it searching for jobs and researching activities for next week. The show went well. Back at the hotel the lobby was packed, some sort of conference in town coinciding with prom festivities. It took a long time to get the elevator to our rooms...and then my key cards didn't work. Alllllll the way back down to have them re-keyed. Straight to bed.
----------------------------------------------------------------
It seems the prom night festivities got out of hand last night.
There was an absolutely WILD party happening on my floor, it sounded like WAY too many people for one room, a lot of screaming and general party noises, but around 3-4am it all dissolved into a fight of some sort. Someone had brought young children who were screaming bloody murder, angry adult voices raised, etc etc.
Someone (hopefully the hotel) called the cops, so this morning when I finally dragged myself out of bed after minimal sleep there were many cop cars parked outside, and the elevators were kept busy with cops coming up and down shuttling zip-tied youth out to the waiting patrol cars.
Yowza.
Not going to lie: because of the room issues experienced thus far + this incident, my nerves are kind of shot.
I had breakfast and tried to relax a bit, but housekeeping knocked and as I came to answer the door the woman OPENED it.
She apologized profusely of course...they had the room marked as unoccupied.
But then about an hour later, same thing happened again. This time it was a maintenance or facilities person.
I called down to the front desk to say, "This room is occupied, could you PLEASE update your staff", and was assured that it had been done.
So I went for a walk to kind of lower my blood pressure and find some peace somewhere.
A few blocks away is something called "Thanks-giving Square".
It's a park that came about due to a rare private-public sector partnership; both the City of Dallas and the public raised funds for its construction in the 70s. The garden portion of the square (the gates of which were still locked this early) is 15 feet below ground to isolate it from traffic and create a more serene space. Since it was locked I didn't go in (could have easily slipped the gaps in the fence, but trying to be a "good citizen" here.) I will probably go back again next week.
There are misc sculptures and monuments inside the garden, and scripture quotes scattered about the walls and walkways which convey religious symbolism and ideas without pinpointing one specific religion (supposedly). It's meant to be a nondenominational space of peace and contemplation...and thanksgiving.
Towering 90ft above the sunken garden is a tight spiral structure, unmarked.
This is the Thanks-giving Chapel. It's open for a set time each day, and again, is meant to be a non-denominational place of peaceful thought and thanks. I had known of it while in Dallas with the circus, but had not been able to go inside at the time (possibly due to repairs).
Considering the way things have been going, I figured now was the time to manifest some serenity and thankfulness.
I climbed the spiraling ramp up the side of the tower.
At the entrance was this sign describing the design and purpose of the chapel.
It was completely silent inside except for the low hum of the ventilation system.
See for yourself what it was like to enter the chapel for the first time:
I was awed, and stood gaping for a moment.
A purplish-white, lilac light enveloped the round sanctuary, which was flanked by a circle of plain chairs.
It felt a little creepy at first, like walking into some sort of inquisition space. But it WAS peaceful, and somehow, approachable.
I went up to the big marble cube and touched it.
And of course I stood as close to center as I could get and stared straight up at the gorgeous 73-panel stained glass spiral.
And spun in a circle like an idiot. YOLO, amirite?
Around then someone else came in so I quickly stepped off to the side so as not to mar their experience.
I left without filling out a "gratitude card" at the little station encouraging visitors to leave a note.
I'll come back and write something before we leave.
After such a lovely experience I felt a little better.
I walked back to the hotel but not before stopping at Clean Juice for a "carrot cake" acai bowl.
Blended carrots, banana, almond butter, cacao, almond milk, cinnamon, granola, and dates.
It was supposed to have maple syrup too but I left it out; dates and banana and are sweet enough.
It was very good, and seems easy enough to make at home too.
Unfortunately my improved sense of serenity was immediately broken by ANOTHER person trying to walk into my hotel room :(
I got ready for the show and went downstairs, stopping at the front desk to reiterate, again, that people should not be coming into my room, and would someone please update their records, pleasepleaseplease.
Walked to the theatre, bringing my computer and dinner because the last thing I want to do is go back to that hotel unless I have to.
The first show went well.
I typed up this post and watched some anime in the dressing room during the break.
Jameson flew back to Orlando and arrived safely, and sent me a nice summary of his experience with Darren Hayes.
It's been a whirlwind week for him and it'll take a while for it to sink in that he got to HUG DARREN HAYES and hear his music performed live in an arena! But once it all hits him, I hope he's just as glowing and happy about it as I am!! :D
The second show also went well, and afterward our MD was dishing out "snots" which is a post-show shot of some sort, but I wanted to hustle back to the hotel to wait in line to have my key cards reactivated, and to empty the bucket under the leaking toilet because it fills quickly and needs to be emptied twice a day.
Oh, did I not mention that?
Yeah, in the new room I've been assigned, instead of a clogged sink I get a leaky toilet.
When I tell people this they ask, "Well why don't you just ask them to move you again?"
Because I've just been moved from a room with a clogged sink, to one with a leaking toilet.
Neither of which hotel maintenance noticed at all before I moved in.
So if I switch rooms again...what's going to be broken in the NEXT room? Am I gonna have to do electrical work there? Or take sponge baths in the sink because the tub's clogged?
No thanks. I'm cutting my losses now and emptying a toilet bucket twice daily for the rest of the stay.
That's far preferable to canceling plans with friends, being walked in on by hotel staff or maintenance, or making another disruptive move to a room where it's likely things still won't be right.
Maybe I'll draw a face on my toilet bucket and give it a name.
Gotta laugh or you'll cry, isn't that right?
------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, a rainy chilly morning.
I did my usual things, breakfast and coffee and anime, and thankfully there was not one incident or interruption.
I walked to the theatre with my computer and a packed dinner and an umbrella.
The show was good, the break spent in my dressing room was relaxing and quiet.
Dinner was chicken soup with tofu chunks, baru nuts, lemon rosemary bread, dark chocolate and coconut turmeric tea for dessert.
The second show was also good, nothing to report except our key 1 Sam was conducting and did a great job :)
I felt very tired, so took a company Uber home with the band guys instead of walking as usual.
It also saved me about 15 minutes of time, which I used to shower and prep things for tomorrow's fun.
-------------------------------------------------------
Monday is our much-anticipated Golden Day!
I am going ALL-OUT. Partly because this week has been stressful, and partly because this tour is coming to an end and it's all part of my mid-life pre-40s crisis :D
The plan is Dallas Arboretum in the morning,
Eataly for lunch and family souvenirs in the afternoon,
H-Mart and 99 Ranch in the late afternoon,
and Billy Can Can for a light dinner and a much-needed glass of wine!
I felt very tired, perhaps because of the weather or maybe I was fighting the cold that's going around from entering my body.
Either way, I had a lovely indoor day of doing laundry, watching Ousama Ranking, researching jobs, updating Foodie Finds, and sharing Jameson's excitement as he flew to Chicago to MEET DARREN HAYES!!!!
Eeeeeeee!!!
If you don't know, Darren Hayes was the vocalist for Savage Garden, a popular 90s-2000s band.
You'd probably recognize the song "I Knew I Loved You", among others.
Jameson and Darren became internet friends somewhere in the late 2010s, and somewhere in there Darren asked Jameson to arrange some of his classic works to rejuvenate them for his albums and upcoming tour.
Darren is now on tour, and Jameson was able to finally meet Darren in person and hear his own arrangements performed live, in front of an audience of thousands, by his friend and pop idol. I mean HOW FREAKING COOL IS THAT!!!
To say I'm proud, happy, and excited for him would be the understatement of the year.
Jameson has worked very hard for musical recognition throughout his life, and often hasn't received it.
I hope that today was very rewarding for him, and fun, and a great experience.
His dad was there with him for all of it, which is absolutely wonderful.
It's got to be an amazing thing to be a proud parent watching your son hug a pop star, and listen to music your son wrote for said pop star, live to an arena full of people singing along. Just, amazing :)
Anyway, that's mostly what Thursday was for me.
Then we had a show which went well, but the band did get a note that we need to step up our game and stay focused, so I will try very hard to meet those expectations. I think that after playing a show 400+ times, perhaps we (I) can go into autopilot too much. I want to stay engaged and give the best possible performance each night!
-----------------------------------------------------------
Friday started off with disappointment: once again my sink was fully clogged.
I don't know why or how this is happening...all I've done is brush my teeth and wash my dishes (no I am NOT putting food in the drain either!). The hotel offered to have me switch rooms but then didn't have any rooms available, so I packed everything up anyway.
I waited around to see if maybe they'd move me in the next hour but it didn't happen, so walked to a convenience store for some fruit.
Along the way, this giant eyeball:
I wanted to get close but it was in a fenced-off area and it looked like you needed tickets (had I been in a better frame of mind I ABSOLUTELY would have. Maybe next week.)
I canceled lunch with my friend Brandon (the drummer who came to our show a few nights ago). It was just stressing me out to be waiting around when the hotel could call any minute to have me move and we might be out somewhere, plus Brandon revealed that he wouldn't be ready until 2pm which is WAY too late for lunch for me personally (my body still thinks it's east coast time, remember). I'll try to catch him again next week.
Around lunchtime I got the ok to move to another room, so off I went, riding elevators up and down, dragging luggage, unpacking everything, stealing the microwave in the old room because the new room didn't have one and I'm rude like that. By the time I was all moved in and unpacked it was close to 2:30, so I was glad I'd canceled on Brandon though I felt bad about it.
It was a lovely sunny day out, but as I only had 2-3 hours until dinnertime/show prep I wasted it searching for jobs and researching activities for next week. The show went well. Back at the hotel the lobby was packed, some sort of conference in town coinciding with prom festivities. It took a long time to get the elevator to our rooms...and then my key cards didn't work. Alllllll the way back down to have them re-keyed. Straight to bed.
----------------------------------------------------------------
It seems the prom night festivities got out of hand last night.
There was an absolutely WILD party happening on my floor, it sounded like WAY too many people for one room, a lot of screaming and general party noises, but around 3-4am it all dissolved into a fight of some sort. Someone had brought young children who were screaming bloody murder, angry adult voices raised, etc etc.
Someone (hopefully the hotel) called the cops, so this morning when I finally dragged myself out of bed after minimal sleep there were many cop cars parked outside, and the elevators were kept busy with cops coming up and down shuttling zip-tied youth out to the waiting patrol cars.
Yowza.
Not going to lie: because of the room issues experienced thus far + this incident, my nerves are kind of shot.
I had breakfast and tried to relax a bit, but housekeeping knocked and as I came to answer the door the woman OPENED it.
She apologized profusely of course...they had the room marked as unoccupied.
But then about an hour later, same thing happened again. This time it was a maintenance or facilities person.
I called down to the front desk to say, "This room is occupied, could you PLEASE update your staff", and was assured that it had been done.
So I went for a walk to kind of lower my blood pressure and find some peace somewhere.
A few blocks away is something called "Thanks-giving Square".
It's a park that came about due to a rare private-public sector partnership; both the City of Dallas and the public raised funds for its construction in the 70s. The garden portion of the square (the gates of which were still locked this early) is 15 feet below ground to isolate it from traffic and create a more serene space. Since it was locked I didn't go in (could have easily slipped the gaps in the fence, but trying to be a "good citizen" here.) I will probably go back again next week.
There are misc sculptures and monuments inside the garden, and scripture quotes scattered about the walls and walkways which convey religious symbolism and ideas without pinpointing one specific religion (supposedly). It's meant to be a nondenominational space of peace and contemplation...and thanksgiving.
Towering 90ft above the sunken garden is a tight spiral structure, unmarked.
This is the Thanks-giving Chapel. It's open for a set time each day, and again, is meant to be a non-denominational place of peaceful thought and thanks. I had known of it while in Dallas with the circus, but had not been able to go inside at the time (possibly due to repairs).
Considering the way things have been going, I figured now was the time to manifest some serenity and thankfulness.
I climbed the spiraling ramp up the side of the tower.
At the entrance was this sign describing the design and purpose of the chapel.
It was completely silent inside except for the low hum of the ventilation system.
See for yourself what it was like to enter the chapel for the first time:
I was awed, and stood gaping for a moment.
A purplish-white, lilac light enveloped the round sanctuary, which was flanked by a circle of plain chairs.
It felt a little creepy at first, like walking into some sort of inquisition space. But it WAS peaceful, and somehow, approachable.
I went up to the big marble cube and touched it.
And of course I stood as close to center as I could get and stared straight up at the gorgeous 73-panel stained glass spiral.
And spun in a circle like an idiot. YOLO, amirite?
Around then someone else came in so I quickly stepped off to the side so as not to mar their experience.
I left without filling out a "gratitude card" at the little station encouraging visitors to leave a note.
I'll come back and write something before we leave.
After such a lovely experience I felt a little better.
I walked back to the hotel but not before stopping at Clean Juice for a "carrot cake" acai bowl.
Blended carrots, banana, almond butter, cacao, almond milk, cinnamon, granola, and dates.
It was supposed to have maple syrup too but I left it out; dates and banana and are sweet enough.
It was very good, and seems easy enough to make at home too.
Unfortunately my improved sense of serenity was immediately broken by ANOTHER person trying to walk into my hotel room :(
I got ready for the show and went downstairs, stopping at the front desk to reiterate, again, that people should not be coming into my room, and would someone please update their records, pleasepleaseplease.
Walked to the theatre, bringing my computer and dinner because the last thing I want to do is go back to that hotel unless I have to.
The first show went well.
I typed up this post and watched some anime in the dressing room during the break.
Jameson flew back to Orlando and arrived safely, and sent me a nice summary of his experience with Darren Hayes.
It's been a whirlwind week for him and it'll take a while for it to sink in that he got to HUG DARREN HAYES and hear his music performed live in an arena! But once it all hits him, I hope he's just as glowing and happy about it as I am!! :D
The second show also went well, and afterward our MD was dishing out "snots" which is a post-show shot of some sort, but I wanted to hustle back to the hotel to wait in line to have my key cards reactivated, and to empty the bucket under the leaking toilet because it fills quickly and needs to be emptied twice a day.
Oh, did I not mention that?
Yeah, in the new room I've been assigned, instead of a clogged sink I get a leaky toilet.
When I tell people this they ask, "Well why don't you just ask them to move you again?"
Because I've just been moved from a room with a clogged sink, to one with a leaking toilet.
Neither of which hotel maintenance noticed at all before I moved in.
So if I switch rooms again...what's going to be broken in the NEXT room? Am I gonna have to do electrical work there? Or take sponge baths in the sink because the tub's clogged?
No thanks. I'm cutting my losses now and emptying a toilet bucket twice daily for the rest of the stay.
That's far preferable to canceling plans with friends, being walked in on by hotel staff or maintenance, or making another disruptive move to a room where it's likely things still won't be right.
Maybe I'll draw a face on my toilet bucket and give it a name.
Gotta laugh or you'll cry, isn't that right?
------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, a rainy chilly morning.
I did my usual things, breakfast and coffee and anime, and thankfully there was not one incident or interruption.
I walked to the theatre with my computer and a packed dinner and an umbrella.
The show was good, the break spent in my dressing room was relaxing and quiet.
Dinner was chicken soup with tofu chunks, baru nuts, lemon rosemary bread, dark chocolate and coconut turmeric tea for dessert.
The second show was also good, nothing to report except our key 1 Sam was conducting and did a great job :)
I felt very tired, so took a company Uber home with the band guys instead of walking as usual.
It also saved me about 15 minutes of time, which I used to shower and prep things for tomorrow's fun.
-------------------------------------------------------
Monday is our much-anticipated Golden Day!
I am going ALL-OUT. Partly because this week has been stressful, and partly because this tour is coming to an end and it's all part of my mid-life pre-40s crisis :D
The plan is Dallas Arboretum in the morning,
Eataly for lunch and family souvenirs in the afternoon,
H-Mart and 99 Ranch in the late afternoon,
and Billy Can Can for a light dinner and a much-needed glass of wine!