Yeah, the stars really misaligned for our poor bandleader :( We were talking of taking a pay cut to help her out but she wouldn't hear of it.

Same, hoping the bass is all right. I don't know if it was her actual good instrument or what, and I didn't even see for sure that cracking was the problem, just tried to deduce what might cause an unexpected breakage and temperature is usually the number one.

Absolutely miserable commute.
If you apply for jobs at the parks, just live near them and it's not a problem. Some of my coworkers walk or bike to work. Both parks have student/internship programs and dorms as well, in case you were to get a job and needed more time to find a place. Those have a shuttle/bus service to and from the parks. If you were gonna apply for a corporate job, it would be well worth living near the parks imo. At my level/entry level...not so much haha