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taz_39**Disclaimer** The views and opinions expressed in this post are my own, and do not reflect the views or opinions of my employer. DO NOT RESHARE ANY PART OF THIS POST WITHOUT PERMISSION. Thank you.
This post covers Monday and Tuesday.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
MONDAY
I was awake earlier than needed and fretting a bit about getting to the airport. There was a Martin Luther King Day parade downtown starting at 10am, and they were expecting 300,000 people to show up!! In the early morning hours I could hear dump trucks being moved into position for road closures.
Fortunately the street by our hotel was not blocked off, but the parade was only a block away. I decided to get to the airport WAY too early, just to get out of the downtown area before the festivities started. After all, I could stare at my phone at the airport just as easily as in my hotel room. It was a very normal travel day, and a short flight to OKC. Did my usual drop-and-go for groceries, then unpacked as usual.
I thought you might like to see my "setup," though there's truly not much to it. Starting with my "coffee station." There is free coffee in most hotel lobbies, but it's not always that good + I'm not always in a mood to trek five flights down in my jammies and fight the breakfast crowd. I also really dislike most in-room hotel coffee pots, as they are RARELY clean. Therefore I have a collapsible hot water kettle and an AeroPress for tea and coffee.
Currently I am not in a cooking mood while on tour. At home I'm happy to cook for Jameson and I, but when it's just me it feels kinda like a wasted effort. Maybe that will change. But for now it means that I put most of my pantry food directly on the counter next to the fridge, so I can see what I have and assemble meals quickly. I put out a set of dishes, and my food scale. This time my tupperware containers are on the other side of the fridge where I can grab them easily for packing lunches.
Fridge. This is a typical one-week supply for me. It's mostly protein for now (Greek yogurt, chicken, tofu, fish, Koia.) There are berries and bananas in the freezer. With veggies, I have learned to get ONE fridge veggie such as lettuce or a cucumber, and wait overnight to see how the fridge will treat it. If the fridge doesn't freeze and ruin my fresh produce, I pick up more the next day. I've had too many good vegetables ruined by overzealous refrigerators.
And here's how I lay out my clothes: I don't :p Other than laying out my pit blacks for opening night, there's no reason to drag everything to drawers or closets. I'd just have to run around gathering it all again in a few days. In the same way that I leave my pantry items on the counter so I can gauge what I have, I leave the clothing out like this so I can gauge when I'm going to have to do laundry as the week goes on.
You don't need to see the bathroom, I lay out toiletries the same way as anyone would whether staying for a night or a week.
If there weren't a microwave, I would also make a spot for my Itaki cooker somewhere (there are some hotels coming up where it'll be needed again.)
Some people enjoy making their hotel room more like a home, and that means putting their clothes away and putting food in the pantry, cooking up meals on the stovetop, utilizing all of that great cabinet and storage space. But as for me, after years of living in hotels, I've learned that if I put things away I'll either forget what I have and overbuy, or leave things behind because I'd shoved them into a cabinet/closet somewhere and forgot about them. But that's just me, everyone is different.
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TUESDAY
Slept pretty poorly...I think because it's so quiet! Not only is my room not facing a road, it's also in an isolated corner of the hotel. I don't have ANY neighbors!
Breakfast, working on Foodie Finds, sending Philly ticket updates to family. I mostly finished my masterclass PowerPoint too, and emailed the coordinator to ask if he still wants me to attend the one at Delaware University in February. In the afternoon Ryu (violin) came to give me the car keys because both she and Sarah (French horn) wanted to walk to the venue, and I wanted to get there early. This works out for today, but I hope not to get stuck with the rental car all week so I can walk a few times too!
As I got ready for the show I kept hearing whistles and cheering and honking outside. Finally cracked my shades and saw an anti-ICE protest happening a few blocks away. Good on 'em.
I texted Jameson to tell him about it, and he asked, "ICE aren't staying at your hotel, are they?"
"I don't think so," I replied, "but if I find out they are imma grab my pots and pans and be over on that corner in a minute."
Do I believe that illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay here with impunity? No.
Do I believe that it's inherently wrong and sickening to empower thugs to go around threatening People Of Color OR People In General, a LOT of whom are American citizens, on the chance that they might be illegal immigrants? YES.
Anyway, a little before 3:30pm I found the rental car and drove to the venue, first to the stage door to grab a parking pass and then to the parking lot which is 2 blocks over. Easy peasy. I vaguely remember this venue, but the basement/pit area is like a maze and not the type of place to stick in your brain.
Our pit setup before everyone had arrived. We are all in a sort of arch around DAR's podium. Which is great! But they decided not to give me Plexi. Which *I* don't mind, but I knew for sure that someone would find me too loud without it.
And Lo, partway through sound check a request was made, and I was enclosed in Plexi to protect the woodwinds :)
Having performed in a zillion different environments--outdoors, indoors, on stage, in pits, in arenas, in practice rooms, parking garages, etc.--as long as there is space for my slide to move, I could truly care less about the acoustics. I can adjust for just about anything. But if putting some shields up around me will help someone else, then by all means, box me up! Lol :p
The evening show was good, the audience seemed enthusiastic. I made a few weirdo mistakes (mostly intonation due to the new space) but am optimistic that I will do a better job tomorrow.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday: Haircut in the morning and maybe a little local exploration after that. One evening show. My new mutes are supposed to arrive so I hope to test them out either today or Thursday.
Thursday: Musician's Union virtual meeting in the afternoon and one show in the evening.
This post covers Monday and Tuesday.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
MONDAY
I was awake earlier than needed and fretting a bit about getting to the airport. There was a Martin Luther King Day parade downtown starting at 10am, and they were expecting 300,000 people to show up!! In the early morning hours I could hear dump trucks being moved into position for road closures.
Fortunately the street by our hotel was not blocked off, but the parade was only a block away. I decided to get to the airport WAY too early, just to get out of the downtown area before the festivities started. After all, I could stare at my phone at the airport just as easily as in my hotel room. It was a very normal travel day, and a short flight to OKC. Did my usual drop-and-go for groceries, then unpacked as usual.
I thought you might like to see my "setup," though there's truly not much to it. Starting with my "coffee station." There is free coffee in most hotel lobbies, but it's not always that good + I'm not always in a mood to trek five flights down in my jammies and fight the breakfast crowd. I also really dislike most in-room hotel coffee pots, as they are RARELY clean. Therefore I have a collapsible hot water kettle and an AeroPress for tea and coffee.
Currently I am not in a cooking mood while on tour. At home I'm happy to cook for Jameson and I, but when it's just me it feels kinda like a wasted effort. Maybe that will change. But for now it means that I put most of my pantry food directly on the counter next to the fridge, so I can see what I have and assemble meals quickly. I put out a set of dishes, and my food scale. This time my tupperware containers are on the other side of the fridge where I can grab them easily for packing lunches.
Fridge. This is a typical one-week supply for me. It's mostly protein for now (Greek yogurt, chicken, tofu, fish, Koia.) There are berries and bananas in the freezer. With veggies, I have learned to get ONE fridge veggie such as lettuce or a cucumber, and wait overnight to see how the fridge will treat it. If the fridge doesn't freeze and ruin my fresh produce, I pick up more the next day. I've had too many good vegetables ruined by overzealous refrigerators.
And here's how I lay out my clothes: I don't :p Other than laying out my pit blacks for opening night, there's no reason to drag everything to drawers or closets. I'd just have to run around gathering it all again in a few days. In the same way that I leave my pantry items on the counter so I can gauge what I have, I leave the clothing out like this so I can gauge when I'm going to have to do laundry as the week goes on.
You don't need to see the bathroom, I lay out toiletries the same way as anyone would whether staying for a night or a week.
If there weren't a microwave, I would also make a spot for my Itaki cooker somewhere (there are some hotels coming up where it'll be needed again.)
Some people enjoy making their hotel room more like a home, and that means putting their clothes away and putting food in the pantry, cooking up meals on the stovetop, utilizing all of that great cabinet and storage space. But as for me, after years of living in hotels, I've learned that if I put things away I'll either forget what I have and overbuy, or leave things behind because I'd shoved them into a cabinet/closet somewhere and forgot about them. But that's just me, everyone is different.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
TUESDAY
Slept pretty poorly...I think because it's so quiet! Not only is my room not facing a road, it's also in an isolated corner of the hotel. I don't have ANY neighbors!
Breakfast, working on Foodie Finds, sending Philly ticket updates to family. I mostly finished my masterclass PowerPoint too, and emailed the coordinator to ask if he still wants me to attend the one at Delaware University in February. In the afternoon Ryu (violin) came to give me the car keys because both she and Sarah (French horn) wanted to walk to the venue, and I wanted to get there early. This works out for today, but I hope not to get stuck with the rental car all week so I can walk a few times too!
As I got ready for the show I kept hearing whistles and cheering and honking outside. Finally cracked my shades and saw an anti-ICE protest happening a few blocks away. Good on 'em.
I texted Jameson to tell him about it, and he asked, "ICE aren't staying at your hotel, are they?"
"I don't think so," I replied, "but if I find out they are imma grab my pots and pans and be over on that corner in a minute."
Do I believe that illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay here with impunity? No.
Do I believe that it's inherently wrong and sickening to empower thugs to go around threatening People Of Color OR People In General, a LOT of whom are American citizens, on the chance that they might be illegal immigrants? YES.
Anyway, a little before 3:30pm I found the rental car and drove to the venue, first to the stage door to grab a parking pass and then to the parking lot which is 2 blocks over. Easy peasy. I vaguely remember this venue, but the basement/pit area is like a maze and not the type of place to stick in your brain.
Our pit setup before everyone had arrived. We are all in a sort of arch around DAR's podium. Which is great! But they decided not to give me Plexi. Which *I* don't mind, but I knew for sure that someone would find me too loud without it.
And Lo, partway through sound check a request was made, and I was enclosed in Plexi to protect the woodwinds :)
Having performed in a zillion different environments--outdoors, indoors, on stage, in pits, in arenas, in practice rooms, parking garages, etc.--as long as there is space for my slide to move, I could truly care less about the acoustics. I can adjust for just about anything. But if putting some shields up around me will help someone else, then by all means, box me up! Lol :p
The evening show was good, the audience seemed enthusiastic. I made a few weirdo mistakes (mostly intonation due to the new space) but am optimistic that I will do a better job tomorrow.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday: Haircut in the morning and maybe a little local exploration after that. One evening show. My new mutes are supposed to arrive so I hope to test them out either today or Thursday.
Thursday: Musician's Union virtual meeting in the afternoon and one show in the evening.
