Just Monday and Tuesday
Jun. 10th, 2025 07:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
taz_39This post is only covering Monday and Tuesday, because Wednesday I fly out to join Beauty and the Beast!!!
I am SO NERVOUS.
I've done many tours before, but this one is different in a lot of ways.
The things I'm most worried about are whether I'll be a good fit; whether I've prepared enough on bass trombone; whether my tenor trombone will make it there safely; whether it's possibly troublesome that I'm blogging this experience (in the past other tours have been ok with it, but this one is more high profile, so...)
...I think that's it haha. I'm certainly worried about other things but the main gist is that this is my dream job, and I do not want to lose it because they don't like my playing, I'm not skilled enough, or I unknowingly commit some faux pas.
I am always telling others not to worry about stuff that they can't help or control, but of course here I am doing it myself. Womp wooooomp.
Anyway.
--- --- --- --- ---
MONDAY
Jameson and I were both up early, him for Disney corporate and me because my friend Ilan said my mutes were ready and although he wouldn't be home to give them to me, I could come pick them up. I had planned to shop and run errands rather far from home anyway today so it was good timing. After breakfast I drove out to his house and got the mutes, and probably annoyed the neighbors by trying them out briefly in the driveway.
They fit a lot better and sounded just fine, so thankfully I think this is the last time I'll have to trek an hour from home for this project. It's too late to get them to tech rehearsal, so I'll just swap them in after July when I come home for a layoff.
In these pics you can see the little handle on the straight mute (left).
The cup mute (right) is not smaller, I was just holding the horn farther from the camera.
Next I drove to The Loop which is a shopping plaza in Kissimmee.
- Went to several stores for sweatpants/pajama pants and wide leg black pants, did not find any.
- To Yankee Candle and got Jameson a vanilla candle because ours is almost finished.
- To a pharmacy for misc things that we need (Band-Aids and Ibuprofen) and travel-sized stuff.
- To Target where I found two pairs of sweatpants but still no wide leg black pants, so gave up and went home.
Back home I ate lunch, then
- Packed misc things like toiletries, trombone gear, charging cables, and clothes.
- Descaled the hot water kettle.
- Dusted, mopped the tile, and vacuumed.
- Did a load of laundry and packed stuff from that.
- Made appointments with misc brass instrument shops in Chicago since I'll be visiting in July, may as well maximize the time.
- Typed up this post.
By the time I got all that done I was pretty beat, so just tried to chill until Jameson got home.
We had leftovers for dinner.
And I realized with a shock that my trombone and equipment will not arrive until the 11th, which is the day before I need them. Which isn't "horrible," but I don't normally cut it so close and am angry with myself for not leaving a buffer day. If there's even ONE delay I won't have my trombone for the start of rehearsals, and will have to find one in less than 24 hours. Now I've got something else to be worried about :(
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
TUESDAY
Jameson had to get up at 7:30am so I got up with him.
After he left it was time for my Last Day At Home chores:
- Checked in for flight to Schenectady.
- Bought ingredients for dinner.
- Practiced bass trombone one last time.
- Washed the bass and let it dry for a while.
- While the bass was drying, finished packing my suitcase and cleaning up the guest bedroom.
- Weighed suitcase (46lbs, perfect)
- Lunch.
- Cleaned both bathrooms + scrubbed the shower.
- Vacuumed the car and put bait blocks under the hood.
- Took recycling out to curb.
- Packed the bass trombone for tomorrow's flight.
- Called the Music & Arts nearest Schenectady to confirm that they've got at least one professional-level tenor trombone in stock, and that it has a return policy, in case mine is delayed in shipping. This did put me at least somewhat at ease.
- Made coleslaw and got the root beer-braised chicken going in the crock pot (for BBQ sliders for dinner)
...and made a cup of tea, and sat the heck down.
I've been on many tours and have done all this Last Day At Home stuff many times. But this time is different. For one thing, I'll be back in less than a month thanks to the musicians' layoff in Chicago. This means I don't actually HAVE to bring everything that I'd need for months at a time on tour.
For another, this tour means a LOT to me. No offense to any other tour I've been on, but this is my first-ever ACTUAL Broadway tour. That's why I'm so upset that my trombone might be delayed in shipping, and why my Impostor Syndrome is absolutely rampant today. Like, odds are that everything will be totally fine...but because I've put so much weight and importance on this tour, it blows everything out of perspective. I know this, yet can't seem to stop it from happening.
What to do, then? Do my prep as usual, make a cup of tea, watch some anime, and ignore it.
Well, write about it to get it off my chest and THEN ignore it.
No point humoring my idiot brain.
Later on when Jameson said he was en route, I boiled some sweet corn and toasted some Hawaiian rolls.
We had root beer-braised BBQ chicken sliders with coleslaw and pickles, sweet corn, and watermelon.
Very summery and delicious :)
I want to mention that over the past several days, I have caught Jameson looking at me with the sweetest look :) :)
I can tell that he is proud of me. And that means SO MUCH.
And he has said so, too, to his friends and his parents over the phone.
I feel the same way about him. We have both been trying and trying and trying and trying, so hard, to reach our career dreams. We have watched each other struggle for about eight years. And that is why this year feels so monumental; it's not just that we've both achieved something amazing. It's that we both know what the other has had to go through to achieve the amazing thing. It wasn't handed to us. That said, there was luck involved, and connections (in our industry that's a given.) But there was also a LOT of work, a lot of uncertainty and rejection, and years of working other jobs that had little do do with our goals without knowing if it would be worth it.
And here we are. It was worth it.
After dinner we had a massive thunderstorm, kinda scary, with hail even!
The guy who was tailoring my shirt chose that moment to say I could come get my finished shirt...at 7pm in the middle of a huge storm...sigh. I wrote that I'd wait an hour to see if it'd let up. It did not let up. So I guess I'm not getting my shirt until the layoff. Sigh again. Whatever, sucks for him that he'll have to hang onto it for that long.
Jameson did orientation for a class while I waited out the storm, then we had our final evening together, just chilling.
Cannot believe that this is finally happening.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday: Flying to Schenectady. Praying to god that my tenor trombone and other equipment shows up on time. Argh. We might have some onboarding or paperwork, I hope?
Thursday: First day of tech rehearsal for Beauty and the Beast!!
I am SO NERVOUS.
I've done many tours before, but this one is different in a lot of ways.
The things I'm most worried about are whether I'll be a good fit; whether I've prepared enough on bass trombone; whether my tenor trombone will make it there safely; whether it's possibly troublesome that I'm blogging this experience (in the past other tours have been ok with it, but this one is more high profile, so...)
...I think that's it haha. I'm certainly worried about other things but the main gist is that this is my dream job, and I do not want to lose it because they don't like my playing, I'm not skilled enough, or I unknowingly commit some faux pas.
I am always telling others not to worry about stuff that they can't help or control, but of course here I am doing it myself. Womp wooooomp.
Anyway.
--- --- --- --- ---
MONDAY
Jameson and I were both up early, him for Disney corporate and me because my friend Ilan said my mutes were ready and although he wouldn't be home to give them to me, I could come pick them up. I had planned to shop and run errands rather far from home anyway today so it was good timing. After breakfast I drove out to his house and got the mutes, and probably annoyed the neighbors by trying them out briefly in the driveway.
They fit a lot better and sounded just fine, so thankfully I think this is the last time I'll have to trek an hour from home for this project. It's too late to get them to tech rehearsal, so I'll just swap them in after July when I come home for a layoff.
In these pics you can see the little handle on the straight mute (left).
The cup mute (right) is not smaller, I was just holding the horn farther from the camera.
Next I drove to The Loop which is a shopping plaza in Kissimmee.
- Went to several stores for sweatpants/pajama pants and wide leg black pants, did not find any.
- To Yankee Candle and got Jameson a vanilla candle because ours is almost finished.
- To a pharmacy for misc things that we need (Band-Aids and Ibuprofen) and travel-sized stuff.
- To Target where I found two pairs of sweatpants but still no wide leg black pants, so gave up and went home.
Back home I ate lunch, then
- Packed misc things like toiletries, trombone gear, charging cables, and clothes.
- Descaled the hot water kettle.
- Dusted, mopped the tile, and vacuumed.
- Did a load of laundry and packed stuff from that.
- Made appointments with misc brass instrument shops in Chicago since I'll be visiting in July, may as well maximize the time.
- Typed up this post.
By the time I got all that done I was pretty beat, so just tried to chill until Jameson got home.
We had leftovers for dinner.
And I realized with a shock that my trombone and equipment will not arrive until the 11th, which is the day before I need them. Which isn't "horrible," but I don't normally cut it so close and am angry with myself for not leaving a buffer day. If there's even ONE delay I won't have my trombone for the start of rehearsals, and will have to find one in less than 24 hours. Now I've got something else to be worried about :(
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
TUESDAY
Jameson had to get up at 7:30am so I got up with him.
After he left it was time for my Last Day At Home chores:
- Checked in for flight to Schenectady.
- Bought ingredients for dinner.
- Practiced bass trombone one last time.
- Washed the bass and let it dry for a while.
- While the bass was drying, finished packing my suitcase and cleaning up the guest bedroom.
- Weighed suitcase (46lbs, perfect)
- Lunch.
- Cleaned both bathrooms + scrubbed the shower.
- Vacuumed the car and put bait blocks under the hood.
- Took recycling out to curb.
- Packed the bass trombone for tomorrow's flight.
- Called the Music & Arts nearest Schenectady to confirm that they've got at least one professional-level tenor trombone in stock, and that it has a return policy, in case mine is delayed in shipping. This did put me at least somewhat at ease.
- Made coleslaw and got the root beer-braised chicken going in the crock pot (for BBQ sliders for dinner)
...and made a cup of tea, and sat the heck down.
I've been on many tours and have done all this Last Day At Home stuff many times. But this time is different. For one thing, I'll be back in less than a month thanks to the musicians' layoff in Chicago. This means I don't actually HAVE to bring everything that I'd need for months at a time on tour.
For another, this tour means a LOT to me. No offense to any other tour I've been on, but this is my first-ever ACTUAL Broadway tour. That's why I'm so upset that my trombone might be delayed in shipping, and why my Impostor Syndrome is absolutely rampant today. Like, odds are that everything will be totally fine...but because I've put so much weight and importance on this tour, it blows everything out of perspective. I know this, yet can't seem to stop it from happening.
What to do, then? Do my prep as usual, make a cup of tea, watch some anime, and ignore it.
Well, write about it to get it off my chest and THEN ignore it.
No point humoring my idiot brain.
Later on when Jameson said he was en route, I boiled some sweet corn and toasted some Hawaiian rolls.
We had root beer-braised BBQ chicken sliders with coleslaw and pickles, sweet corn, and watermelon.
Very summery and delicious :)
I want to mention that over the past several days, I have caught Jameson looking at me with the sweetest look :) :)
I can tell that he is proud of me. And that means SO MUCH.
And he has said so, too, to his friends and his parents over the phone.
I feel the same way about him. We have both been trying and trying and trying and trying, so hard, to reach our career dreams. We have watched each other struggle for about eight years. And that is why this year feels so monumental; it's not just that we've both achieved something amazing. It's that we both know what the other has had to go through to achieve the amazing thing. It wasn't handed to us. That said, there was luck involved, and connections (in our industry that's a given.) But there was also a LOT of work, a lot of uncertainty and rejection, and years of working other jobs that had little do do with our goals without knowing if it would be worth it.
And here we are. It was worth it.
After dinner we had a massive thunderstorm, kinda scary, with hail even!
The guy who was tailoring my shirt chose that moment to say I could come get my finished shirt...at 7pm in the middle of a huge storm...sigh. I wrote that I'd wait an hour to see if it'd let up. It did not let up. So I guess I'm not getting my shirt until the layoff. Sigh again. Whatever, sucks for him that he'll have to hang onto it for that long.
Jameson did orientation for a class while I waited out the storm, then we had our final evening together, just chilling.
Cannot believe that this is finally happening.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday: Flying to Schenectady. Praying to god that my tenor trombone and other equipment shows up on time. Argh. We might have some onboarding or paperwork, I hope?
Thursday: First day of tech rehearsal for Beauty and the Beast!!
no subject
Date: 2025-06-11 09:24 am (UTC)I only clean it once every 2-3 months...is that a lot?
Also,
1 - The grout is badly worn meaning it doesn't seal against moisture properly, so water, dead skin, etc get stuck under the old cracked grout and produce mold and mildew.
2 - We live in Florida, a tropical climate, and it is exceptionally, oppressively humid, even indoors and with air conditioning. Therefore things stay wet much longer and harbor mold much more easily.
I am JEALOUS of how quickly towels dry in the north of the country! And as I'm flying to Schenectady today, one thing I'm looking forward to is being able to air-dry my hair (something I absolutely can't get away with in Florida because the air is so full of moisture)
no subject
Date: 2025-06-12 04:07 am (UTC)I remember using Tilex in the shower as a kid, and it never really working on the black mildew stains in the grout. Also the strong bleach odor. My current shower has 3 walls of cultured marble. The color is awful but at least there's no grout.
My friend was visiting from California over the weekend, and was in shock at how fast her hair dried.
FL sounds like the week I spent in Puerto Vallarta where nothing ever dried. That was far worse than when I was in LA-GA-SC-NC on 2001. Only drove through MS and AL, didn't stay overnight.
no subject
Date: 2025-06-12 10:53 am (UTC)