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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
Up early for coffee and breakfast before the Uber to the airport. I got there too early as usual.
After exploring the tiny Richmond airport I was chilling and reading my book when a TSA agent and explosives dog came by. I remembered to ask for a trading card and they were happy to oblige.
Here is Salem and his handler Brimo!
Salem must be good luck because the travel day went quite well. Both flights were on time, weather was clear, etc. Our hotel is newish and my room is HUGE, it feels luxurious! And it's a long-stay-type so there's a stovetop and full size fridge, woooo! The downside is that downtown Louisville doesn't have grocery stores, which meant Ubering or Instacart was the only realistic option. I Ubered to a Whole Paycheck and COMPLETELY forgot to use the gift card that Ms. Johnson gifted me for giving a masterclass last week *facepalm* It's ok, it will absolutely get used at some point.
Back to the hotel and unpacking, making myself hot tea and chatting with Jameson via text. There's something so satisfying about having a fridge full of lovely groceries, and a quiet evening to yourself to relax in pajamas in a big clean beautiful hotel. Moments like these really do embody what "wealth" means to me. It never fails to make me feel like a Trombone Disney Princess™.
Grateful, grateful, grateful.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TUESDAY
Woke up having NO idea where I was or what day it was. It took a second to wake up fully and remember that it's Tuesday and I'm in Louisville, haha. The side effects of frequent travel and ever-changing hotel rooms!
Went downstairs to raid hotel breakfast. They have some unusual and nice options here, like potato pancakes and overnight oats, which are uncommon at most free hotel breakfasts. But they don't have peanut butter which I find odd! Still, grabbed some bagels and coffee at least.
Working on DC Foodie Finds, packing dinner and snacks for the theater, and making plans.
RE: Louisville: Telling you all now that I do not plan to do much sightseeing here other than just walking around enjoying the general downtown. I'm about to have three weeks laid off/unpaid so I want to save money, plus I've been here before with the circus. On Wednesday I have a haircut, on Thursday we have in-ear fittings. I may visit a local market. That's about it.
RE: three week layoff: As usual I will have a LOT to do. There will be a lot of cleaning since installing new flooring kicked up dust and a lot of things were moved, plus the usual housekeeping. I also need to do taxes, which I'm filing late because I have 8-10 W2s plus a load of 1099s this year. But the biggest challenge this layoff is not having a car. I need to carefully plan Uber and Instacart usages so that I'm only making 1-2 trips per week, AND I have two gigs (a Main Street Phil day and an Easter gig) which may require rental cars. This is my first time without the car for such a long period of time.
Anyway, it was a quiet morning and afternoon. Since the pit is "weird" here plus our show is at 7pm instead of 7:30, I decided to walk over early.
Here is the weird pit. Can you tell what's unusual about it?
That's right, it's on two tiers! On the top "shelf" nearest the audience we have DAR, violin and woodwinds on his left, and Tim (trumpet) and I on his right. On the lower level we have the drum box smack in the middle with keys to DAR's left and horn on the right. It's odd...but I guess it works? Tim was still setting up when I got there so I scrounged around for my trunk instead, and the hotel is so close that I walked back to put that stuff away while I was at it. By the time I got back Tim was done and I could set up.
A kind of "artsy" shot of the pit. I liked the contrasting lighting from the house and the drum box, and the natural sort of one-point perspective created by the lines.
Sound check went fine, just some mild complaints that turned out to be pretty fixable thankfully. I had packed dinner and ate at the theater, but Ryu (violin) and Josh (Key 2) found a really good Korean place nearby so that may have to be my Foodie Find here in Louisville. After dinner I popped up to Management for my traditional opening day piece of candy. They had another surprise for us: mini Louisville Sluggers with the show logo and dates on them! How cute!
The evening show went well, although the sound in this theater will definitely take some getting used to.
At intermission Connor (Key 1) found an old pump organ shoved into a corner and gave it a whirl.
Also, Jameson texted to share that his parents have gotten a new puppy! A yorkiepoo I think. His name is JoJo and he's 6 1/2 years old. He belonged to another family once, but they had trouble with him barking while they were gone or something like that. But he looks cute and I hope they'll all get along well!
It was nice to be finished with the show 30 minutes earlier than usual! I had time to type this post up and read a little before bed :)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday: Haircut in the morning, and visiting a local bodega called Haymarket. One evening show.
Thursday: Getting fitted for in-ears in the morning. One evening show.
This post covers Monday and Tuesday.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
MONDAY
Up early for coffee and breakfast before the Uber to the airport. I got there too early as usual.
After exploring the tiny Richmond airport I was chilling and reading my book when a TSA agent and explosives dog came by. I remembered to ask for a trading card and they were happy to oblige.
Here is Salem and his handler Brimo!
Salem must be good luck because the travel day went quite well. Both flights were on time, weather was clear, etc. Our hotel is newish and my room is HUGE, it feels luxurious! And it's a long-stay-type so there's a stovetop and full size fridge, woooo! The downside is that downtown Louisville doesn't have grocery stores, which meant Ubering or Instacart was the only realistic option. I Ubered to a Whole Paycheck and COMPLETELY forgot to use the gift card that Ms. Johnson gifted me for giving a masterclass last week *facepalm* It's ok, it will absolutely get used at some point.
Back to the hotel and unpacking, making myself hot tea and chatting with Jameson via text. There's something so satisfying about having a fridge full of lovely groceries, and a quiet evening to yourself to relax in pajamas in a big clean beautiful hotel. Moments like these really do embody what "wealth" means to me. It never fails to make me feel like a Trombone Disney Princess™.
Grateful, grateful, grateful.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TUESDAY
Woke up having NO idea where I was or what day it was. It took a second to wake up fully and remember that it's Tuesday and I'm in Louisville, haha. The side effects of frequent travel and ever-changing hotel rooms!
Went downstairs to raid hotel breakfast. They have some unusual and nice options here, like potato pancakes and overnight oats, which are uncommon at most free hotel breakfasts. But they don't have peanut butter which I find odd! Still, grabbed some bagels and coffee at least.
Working on DC Foodie Finds, packing dinner and snacks for the theater, and making plans.
RE: Louisville: Telling you all now that I do not plan to do much sightseeing here other than just walking around enjoying the general downtown. I'm about to have three weeks laid off/unpaid so I want to save money, plus I've been here before with the circus. On Wednesday I have a haircut, on Thursday we have in-ear fittings. I may visit a local market. That's about it.
RE: three week layoff: As usual I will have a LOT to do. There will be a lot of cleaning since installing new flooring kicked up dust and a lot of things were moved, plus the usual housekeeping. I also need to do taxes, which I'm filing late because I have 8-10 W2s plus a load of 1099s this year. But the biggest challenge this layoff is not having a car. I need to carefully plan Uber and Instacart usages so that I'm only making 1-2 trips per week, AND I have two gigs (a Main Street Phil day and an Easter gig) which may require rental cars. This is my first time without the car for such a long period of time.
Anyway, it was a quiet morning and afternoon. Since the pit is "weird" here plus our show is at 7pm instead of 7:30, I decided to walk over early.
Here is the weird pit. Can you tell what's unusual about it?
That's right, it's on two tiers! On the top "shelf" nearest the audience we have DAR, violin and woodwinds on his left, and Tim (trumpet) and I on his right. On the lower level we have the drum box smack in the middle with keys to DAR's left and horn on the right. It's odd...but I guess it works? Tim was still setting up when I got there so I scrounged around for my trunk instead, and the hotel is so close that I walked back to put that stuff away while I was at it. By the time I got back Tim was done and I could set up.
A kind of "artsy" shot of the pit. I liked the contrasting lighting from the house and the drum box, and the natural sort of one-point perspective created by the lines.
Sound check went fine, just some mild complaints that turned out to be pretty fixable thankfully. I had packed dinner and ate at the theater, but Ryu (violin) and Josh (Key 2) found a really good Korean place nearby so that may have to be my Foodie Find here in Louisville. After dinner I popped up to Management for my traditional opening day piece of candy. They had another surprise for us: mini Louisville Sluggers with the show logo and dates on them! How cute!
The evening show went well, although the sound in this theater will definitely take some getting used to.
At intermission Connor (Key 1) found an old pump organ shoved into a corner and gave it a whirl.
Also, Jameson texted to share that his parents have gotten a new puppy! A yorkiepoo I think. His name is JoJo and he's 6 1/2 years old. He belonged to another family once, but they had trouble with him barking while they were gone or something like that. But he looks cute and I hope they'll all get along well!
It was nice to be finished with the show 30 minutes earlier than usual! I had time to type this post up and read a little before bed :)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday: Haircut in the morning, and visiting a local bodega called Haymarket. One evening show.
Thursday: Getting fitted for in-ears in the morning. One evening show.
no subject
Date: 2026-03-11 12:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-03-11 03:12 pm (UTC)Yeah he looks cute! I hope he brings them joy and that they have a lovely life together :)
I'm calling the bat my Beauty and the Beast Bludgeon lol