Fayetteville, AR 2026 part 2: Birthday!!
Feb. 5th, 2026 10:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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 Wednesday and Thursday.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
WEDNESDAY
Interestingly, despite not setting an alarm, I was awake right at 7:35am, which is pretty much within minutes of when I was born on this day 42 years ago!
First thing's first: responding to the slew of facebook birthday messages. Like, "Thank you," like, "Thank you!" I don't mind because it's only once a year, and it's kind of people to take even a split second of their day to wish me well :)
Next, my Aunt called so we chatted it up for an hour while I made coffee and got my slow-cooked oats going. She shared her recent adventures in trying to find a new gym. Ugh! I've been there and it's no fun. After breakfast I paged through the French horn book and made notes about where solos exist. This will save time later when I have my iPad in front of me (hopefully later this afternoon.) While doing this I also responded to all of YOUR lovely LiveJournal and DW well-wishes, and continued to "like, 'Thank you!'" on facebook posts :D
I looked up The Muppet Show and it doesn't premiere on ABC until evening, so either I'll have to watch it after the show tonight or catch it tomorrow. Womp womp. I texted the charcuterie place to ask if I could pick up the tray earlier (it's a 20-minute walk and I accidentally scheduled pickup too close to dinnertime) and they said no problem.
AND! I might get to give another masterclass while we're in Philly! At Temple University! That would be really exciting, they've got a big trombone studio. I sent the guy the information and we'll see if he's interested and/or can arrange it.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
All of this before noon, and kind of contemplating my age while doing all of these things.
My mom passed away when she was 41 years old.
I am now older than my mom ever got to be, and that is a strange thing to understand and think about.
Additionally, if you double my age you get 84. It is not common on either side of my family to reach 80.
This means that I am probably more than halfway through my lifespan. That's not to be dark or negative, it's simply a fact. A fact that puts this particular birthday in perspective. Overall, despite a LOT of obstacles and hardships, I think that I have been more privileged than most RE: how I was raised and what opportunities I've had, had help getting, or was able to create for myself. Of course I have some regrets, painful memories, and life-trauma. My heart and soul have been cracked and broken many times. But isn't that a part of being alive? No one gets through unscathed. Looking back on all that I've gotten to do and experience and BECOME, and the incredible souls that I've been privileged to meet along the way...honestly, so far life has been GREAT! My goodness, it has been FUN and exciting! Scary too, and sad and awful. But majority positive, successful, and GOOD. I have such a deep feeling of gratitude for that today. No one knows how long they'll get to breathe in and out. I do very much appreciate every moment, and am in full realization of that today.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
At 10:30ish I did a masterclass run-through: a solid 45 minutes! Excellent! Then lunch, and I walked to the theater to see if I could get in and retrieve my iPad. I could and did.
Here's the plan: I'm not downloading the WHOLE French horn book, but will extract any parts of the show with solos OR with lines that I know I can cover because I have rests in my own part. I'm arranging those pages in order, into a playlist. And then I'm going through and transposing the solos/parts that I can cover, i.e. writing the note names above the notes.
When that's done, I'll choose some emoji or marker to indicate, in both my book and these French horn parts, when to switch back to the other book. Cues, essentially, so I won't compromise my own music to cover the horn's music. This may all seem crazy, but remember that reading multiple books like this is something only to be used in extreme emergency. If it happens, I will likely be sightreading while freaking out. Future Me will thank Past Me profusely for doing all of this, if I ever have to use it.
At some point I'll do something similar to the trumpet book, but since I can read trumpet parts fairly well that's not a priority just yet.
Around 3pm I decided that it was cupcake time! Look at this BEAST! Chocolate espresso.
My favorite thing about it is that the icing is as big as the cupcake :D It was delicious! Moist and decadent.
As I was finishing my treat, a Philadelphia friend who is also a music teacher messaged to ask about having me do a masterclass! ANOTHER masterclass in Philly! Why does everyone want to do stuff in Philly? If I take her up on it, that'll be THREE masterclasses while we're in that city. Like the professor from Temple U, she's going to have to get approval first. While I was interrogating her via text about her students' age levels and what her program is like, I bundled up and walked 20 minutes to pick up the charcuterie. The theater was on the way so I dropped it off on the way back and went back to my apartment-thing. Had just enough time to send off all of the info, PowerPoint links, reference material, bios, etc to my friend so she could pitch my presentation to her education heads, then wolfed down some dinner and got back to the theater to set up the charcuterie in our break room.
Look how lovely! This is WAY better than I was expecting.
There were so many different things! Mixed nuts, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, grapes, dried cranberries, chocolate covered pomegranate seeds, chocolate pretzels, a zillion kinds of cheese, several delicious cured meats, artichoke dip, pickles, honey, crackers...there was even some fresh thyme scattered around. Absolutely gorgeous, I'm so glad I went this route instead of doughnuts or something.
And there was another surprise: the orchestra ladies (Sarah/horn and Ryu/violin) had gotten me these beautiful flowers!!
Here is the card:
I was really touched. We are still kind of just acquaintances at this point, and I never expect anyone to get me anything for my birthday, especially people who barely know me. This was so incredibly thoughtful.
Additionally, Tim (trumpet) brought treats for my birthday! He went to the co-op and got not only the chocolate espresso cupcakes (I truly would have eaten a second one lol they are so good) but also a variety box of delicious brownies and cookies. We mostly ate this stuff during intermission and everyone enjoyed it immensely. Some of the guys even said it was one of the best charcuteries they'd had.
The show went well, our horn sub did a fantastic job again. I think (I hope!) that Sarah will be rejoining us tomorrow?
Personally I also played well and that made me happy since it's my B-day and all :p
And the audience was enthusiastic and lovely :)
Throughout the night people made a point to wish me happy birthday.
And by the end of the day I had hundreds of birthday wishes online! WOW!! I felt like a celebrity!
To sum it up, everyone made me feel very special and loved today. AND I got to play Beauty and the Beast! I am so grateful for all of it...the people who went out of their way to make me feel special, and the ability to do what I do. This will definitely go down as one of my top birthdays on tour!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THURSDAY
Awake early because we got Philly ticket confirmations last night, but I am missing one so I'm stressed about it. SURELY it's just a mistake, right?
Coffee, breakfast, adding some updates to Philly Foodie Finds thanks to
ratphooey who had some awesome additions. That'll be sent to the company tomorrow. Texted back and forth with my friend who wants me to do that third masterclass...it sounds like she's at an ARTS school, meaning she needs someone who can speak to, I guess, ALL of the arts disciplines? And I don't feel nearly qualified to do that. Sent an email to a friend who recently got back in touch, just to catch up. Responded to belated birthday wishes. And ran through my masterclass again (47 minutes.)
Jameson got new glasses and sent a pic to show me :p
Got dressed for the show, had lunch, and walked over there a bit early to ask about my missing ticket confirmation. I had worried for nothing; the tickets were there, the confirmation email had just gotten lost along the way. Phew. This means that everyone who wanted tickets from me in Philly did get their tickets. GOOD.
The matinee went well. Sarah (horn) is not back yet so we had the horn player who covered in Dallas. She presumably flew out here to sub. We had a really incredibly loud and enthusiastic crowd that sounded like it was made up of school kids. SCREAMING during Be Our Guest, and during the Transformation, and during bows! It reminded me of the kiddie shows we used to have in the circus (click HERE to see a video of that and make sure volume is on!) Love that energy and excitement!
Between shows I came back to the apartment where I coordinated some masterclass logistics, made a plan for Friday, and ate dinner. Then back to the theater for the evening show, which went well but I was in my head a little and didn't play as well as I'd like. The audience would never know...but I know! Bleh!
But if I think about how I sounded during tech rehearsal, versus now, there has been vast improvement, and this encourages me to be patient because I WILL get the level I want to be at with this show.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday: One show in the evening. I plan to do my usual routine and masterclass prep, laundry, work on the French horn solos, and go thrifting!
Saturday: Two shows so I probably won't do much except load things into my trunk.
Sunday: One show! No plans as yet but we'll see.
This post covers Wednesday and Thursday.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
WEDNESDAY
Interestingly, despite not setting an alarm, I was awake right at 7:35am, which is pretty much within minutes of when I was born on this day 42 years ago!
First thing's first: responding to the slew of facebook birthday messages. Like, "Thank you," like, "Thank you!" I don't mind because it's only once a year, and it's kind of people to take even a split second of their day to wish me well :)
Next, my Aunt called so we chatted it up for an hour while I made coffee and got my slow-cooked oats going. She shared her recent adventures in trying to find a new gym. Ugh! I've been there and it's no fun. After breakfast I paged through the French horn book and made notes about where solos exist. This will save time later when I have my iPad in front of me (hopefully later this afternoon.) While doing this I also responded to all of YOUR lovely LiveJournal and DW well-wishes, and continued to "like, 'Thank you!'" on facebook posts :D
I looked up The Muppet Show and it doesn't premiere on ABC until evening, so either I'll have to watch it after the show tonight or catch it tomorrow. Womp womp. I texted the charcuterie place to ask if I could pick up the tray earlier (it's a 20-minute walk and I accidentally scheduled pickup too close to dinnertime) and they said no problem.
AND! I might get to give another masterclass while we're in Philly! At Temple University! That would be really exciting, they've got a big trombone studio. I sent the guy the information and we'll see if he's interested and/or can arrange it.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
All of this before noon, and kind of contemplating my age while doing all of these things.
My mom passed away when she was 41 years old.
I am now older than my mom ever got to be, and that is a strange thing to understand and think about.
Additionally, if you double my age you get 84. It is not common on either side of my family to reach 80.
This means that I am probably more than halfway through my lifespan. That's not to be dark or negative, it's simply a fact. A fact that puts this particular birthday in perspective. Overall, despite a LOT of obstacles and hardships, I think that I have been more privileged than most RE: how I was raised and what opportunities I've had, had help getting, or was able to create for myself. Of course I have some regrets, painful memories, and life-trauma. My heart and soul have been cracked and broken many times. But isn't that a part of being alive? No one gets through unscathed. Looking back on all that I've gotten to do and experience and BECOME, and the incredible souls that I've been privileged to meet along the way...honestly, so far life has been GREAT! My goodness, it has been FUN and exciting! Scary too, and sad and awful. But majority positive, successful, and GOOD. I have such a deep feeling of gratitude for that today. No one knows how long they'll get to breathe in and out. I do very much appreciate every moment, and am in full realization of that today.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
At 10:30ish I did a masterclass run-through: a solid 45 minutes! Excellent! Then lunch, and I walked to the theater to see if I could get in and retrieve my iPad. I could and did.
Here's the plan: I'm not downloading the WHOLE French horn book, but will extract any parts of the show with solos OR with lines that I know I can cover because I have rests in my own part. I'm arranging those pages in order, into a playlist. And then I'm going through and transposing the solos/parts that I can cover, i.e. writing the note names above the notes.
When that's done, I'll choose some emoji or marker to indicate, in both my book and these French horn parts, when to switch back to the other book. Cues, essentially, so I won't compromise my own music to cover the horn's music. This may all seem crazy, but remember that reading multiple books like this is something only to be used in extreme emergency. If it happens, I will likely be sightreading while freaking out. Future Me will thank Past Me profusely for doing all of this, if I ever have to use it.
At some point I'll do something similar to the trumpet book, but since I can read trumpet parts fairly well that's not a priority just yet.
Around 3pm I decided that it was cupcake time! Look at this BEAST! Chocolate espresso.
My favorite thing about it is that the icing is as big as the cupcake :D It was delicious! Moist and decadent.
As I was finishing my treat, a Philadelphia friend who is also a music teacher messaged to ask about having me do a masterclass! ANOTHER masterclass in Philly! Why does everyone want to do stuff in Philly? If I take her up on it, that'll be THREE masterclasses while we're in that city. Like the professor from Temple U, she's going to have to get approval first. While I was interrogating her via text about her students' age levels and what her program is like, I bundled up and walked 20 minutes to pick up the charcuterie. The theater was on the way so I dropped it off on the way back and went back to my apartment-thing. Had just enough time to send off all of the info, PowerPoint links, reference material, bios, etc to my friend so she could pitch my presentation to her education heads, then wolfed down some dinner and got back to the theater to set up the charcuterie in our break room.
Look how lovely! This is WAY better than I was expecting.
There were so many different things! Mixed nuts, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, grapes, dried cranberries, chocolate covered pomegranate seeds, chocolate pretzels, a zillion kinds of cheese, several delicious cured meats, artichoke dip, pickles, honey, crackers...there was even some fresh thyme scattered around. Absolutely gorgeous, I'm so glad I went this route instead of doughnuts or something.
And there was another surprise: the orchestra ladies (Sarah/horn and Ryu/violin) had gotten me these beautiful flowers!!
Here is the card:
I was really touched. We are still kind of just acquaintances at this point, and I never expect anyone to get me anything for my birthday, especially people who barely know me. This was so incredibly thoughtful.
Additionally, Tim (trumpet) brought treats for my birthday! He went to the co-op and got not only the chocolate espresso cupcakes (I truly would have eaten a second one lol they are so good) but also a variety box of delicious brownies and cookies. We mostly ate this stuff during intermission and everyone enjoyed it immensely. Some of the guys even said it was one of the best charcuteries they'd had.
The show went well, our horn sub did a fantastic job again. I think (I hope!) that Sarah will be rejoining us tomorrow?
Personally I also played well and that made me happy since it's my B-day and all :p
And the audience was enthusiastic and lovely :)
Throughout the night people made a point to wish me happy birthday.
And by the end of the day I had hundreds of birthday wishes online! WOW!! I felt like a celebrity!
To sum it up, everyone made me feel very special and loved today. AND I got to play Beauty and the Beast! I am so grateful for all of it...the people who went out of their way to make me feel special, and the ability to do what I do. This will definitely go down as one of my top birthdays on tour!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THURSDAY
Awake early because we got Philly ticket confirmations last night, but I am missing one so I'm stressed about it. SURELY it's just a mistake, right?
Coffee, breakfast, adding some updates to Philly Foodie Finds thanks to
ratphooey who had some awesome additions. That'll be sent to the company tomorrow. Texted back and forth with my friend who wants me to do that third masterclass...it sounds like she's at an ARTS school, meaning she needs someone who can speak to, I guess, ALL of the arts disciplines? And I don't feel nearly qualified to do that. Sent an email to a friend who recently got back in touch, just to catch up. Responded to belated birthday wishes. And ran through my masterclass again (47 minutes.)Jameson got new glasses and sent a pic to show me :p
Got dressed for the show, had lunch, and walked over there a bit early to ask about my missing ticket confirmation. I had worried for nothing; the tickets were there, the confirmation email had just gotten lost along the way. Phew. This means that everyone who wanted tickets from me in Philly did get their tickets. GOOD.
The matinee went well. Sarah (horn) is not back yet so we had the horn player who covered in Dallas. She presumably flew out here to sub. We had a really incredibly loud and enthusiastic crowd that sounded like it was made up of school kids. SCREAMING during Be Our Guest, and during the Transformation, and during bows! It reminded me of the kiddie shows we used to have in the circus (click HERE to see a video of that and make sure volume is on!) Love that energy and excitement!
Between shows I came back to the apartment where I coordinated some masterclass logistics, made a plan for Friday, and ate dinner. Then back to the theater for the evening show, which went well but I was in my head a little and didn't play as well as I'd like. The audience would never know...but I know! Bleh!
But if I think about how I sounded during tech rehearsal, versus now, there has been vast improvement, and this encourages me to be patient because I WILL get the level I want to be at with this show.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday: One show in the evening. I plan to do my usual routine and masterclass prep, laundry, work on the French horn solos, and go thrifting!
Saturday: Two shows so I probably won't do much except load things into my trunk.
Sunday: One show! No plans as yet but we'll see.
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Date: 2026-02-06 01:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-06 02:08 pm (UTC)