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taz_39 FRIDAY
Jameson's alarm went off at 8:30. He went for his Mental Health Walk while I messed around online and had breakfast.
After Jameson had returned, had breakfast, showered, and gone off for a haircut, I practiced trombone for a solid hour. It was easier to switch from the bass to the tenor and back this time, which is a relief. Jameson got back and I admired his haircut :) then did a "faux pack" so I could see how much my luggage would weigh. Forty-four pounds (19.95 kg) without the pea coat, which is perfect because it's 80°F here (26.6°C) and will be 47°F in Hartford (8.3°C) so I want to throw the coat in the suitcase and yank it out once I arrive.
We had lunch together, then Jameson had some work to do and....well I didn't really know what to do with myself. I didn't want to go for a walk because it was hot out, and I have done pretty much all of the major chores. I made an ingredient list for Easter dinner and made a general plan for tomorrow. Wiped down a few things, checked the mail, tried out a new anime that was "meh," and was kinda bored.
Until our management team posted the Hartford info sheet and I realized I'd gotten the hotel wrong AGAIN.
This keeps happening because when Sonder went bankrupt, a lot of our Marriott hotel bookings were cancelled abruptly and without warning. Our management team had to re-book us in different hotels, which meant that the Route Sheet that I had been using to create Foodie Finds and map distances was now out of date. What I SHOULD be doing, going forward, is when our housing sign-ups go out a month before we arrive, cross-check and make sure the hotel is accurate. This time I was spared a major reworking of Foodie Finds because the new hotel is just a block or two over. But other times I may not be so lucky.
Anyway, got to kill an hour fixing Foodie Finds and sending it out again, then another hour with more anime and a snack. We watched some Cubs game or something, and ordered Panda Express for dinner, and then drove nearly an hour to Winter Park because Jameson's friend Roger was celebrating his birthday at a local dive bar there. Y'all probably know that dive bars are not my scene whatsoever, but if Jameson is with me I will go nearly anywhere :p
Also, Roger is the guitarist in a band called BarFly and Jameson used to be a member, so I know all of these guys pretty well (except the drummer, he's new and he's INCREDIBLE. We were all wowed by his performance.) And BarFly was performing at the bar for Roger's birthday. As a musician, is there a better way to spend a birthday than performing WHILE hanging out with your friends? :)
Roger is a pretty freaking awesome guitarist. Check it out:
After a few drinks Jameson was asked to come up and sing a song (former member so he knows their whole setlist.)
I took video but afterward he was being down on himself and self-conscious, so instead here are some screenshots.
He did just fine and I was super proud of him for rocking out! But I know what it's like to be self-critical.
There was a Mystery Vending Machines at the bar too! I'd had fun with one of these at an arcade bar a few years ago.
This one was a little more adult-themed than the last one!
I ended up getting the 90s mystery bag and a mystery enamel pin.
The enamel pin was this:
...and the 90s bag had some fun little toys, stickers, and candy, but honestly nothing worth keeping. A finger skateboard, knockoff Tamagotchi, self-inflatable foil balloon with a Pokemon on it, stuff like that. I passed everything around the table of Roger's friends and people got a kick out of it, especially the finger skateboard which ended up doing a lot of tricks on empty drink cups or across the backs of phones :D
Finally the bar started emptying out a bit around midnight, so we said our goodbyes. Gave Roger a hug and peaced out for the long drive home. I think we got to bed around 1:30am. I didn't shower which is super unusual for me (I HATE going to bed "dirty.")
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SATURDAY
I was up early, twitching because today's the day I prep Easter dinner and pick up the rental car that I'll need for both my Easter gig and to get to the airport on Monday. But first breakfast, typing this post, and boiling the eggs for deviled eggs. Since there's only us two, I only needed to boil the three leftover eggs we had in the fridge (which will make 6 deviled eggs, which is two more than either of us will eat)
Pro tips:
1) Add a splash of vinegar to your boiling water for PERFECT-PEEL eggs!!
2) When the eggs are done, IMMEDIATELY drop them into a bowl of ice water.
I am serious when I say this has NEVER failed me. Perfectly smooth and easy-to-peel eggs every time.
Jameson went for a walk while I was putting the eggs away, so I practiced first the bass then the small tenor. Had lunch with Jameson when he got back, then it was an Uber to the airport for the rental car.
This one was through Alamo and it was a "skip the counter" thing. I'd gotten a barcode in my email. Instead of going to the rental counter inside the terminal I went across the street to a rental car garage. Each lane was labeled just like a grocery aisle with signs hanging above: "Compact," "Minivans," etc. All of the cars have keys on the dash, you can pick any car.
(stock image, Google Maps)
I went down the "Compact" aisle and picked a random car, fired it up, drove it to the gate where an Alamo associate scanned my barcode, asked if I wanted any add-ons, then waved me off. From the time I was dropped off by the Uber to the time I pulled away, the entire process took about 15 minutes (and most of that was me walking to the garage.) I wish ALL car rentals were so easy.
First stop was HoneyBaked Ham. the smallest ham they had was far too big for us but I got it anyway. I'll just freeze most of it.
Next was Trader Joe's because there is a lot of hype around their crescent rolls. Got a can of those.
Last was Whole Paycheck where I got most of our Easter dinner ingredients and a hot bar dinner for myself as Jameson was going out with friends that night.
I got home around 3pm, had a snack, and got to work on Easter prep.
Split the ham in half and froze half, the rest in the fridge for tomorrow.
Got the potatoes washed and boiling on the stove for potato salad.
While that was going, cut the boiled eggs and made the deviled egg filling.
When the potatoes were done I let them cool while mixing up their dressing.
And when they were cool enough I cut the potatoes, tossed them in the dressing, and cleaned up the mess I'd made in the kitchen.
Now on Easter all I'll have to do is let the ham sit out, roast the asparagus, and bake the crescent rolls. Easy peasy!
I also got us some small mini-tarts and carrot cake parfait for dessert :)
Shortly thereafter Jameson left for his friend hang. I dry-Swiffered the floor one last time, packed up the tenor trombone and iPad, put the music stand in the rental car. Got my outfit laid out for tomorrow, triple-checked my arrival time, and set an alarm for 4am (uuuugh.) Ate my Whole Paycheck dinner. Took myself for one last neighborhood walk. And tried going to bed early, but failed miserably. I did doze off and woke up when Jameson got home (1am?).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUNDAY
Easter Sunday!
I was up at 4am. uuuugh.
Coffee, getting dressed in the dark, out the door by 4:45 or so. Drove straight to the church and arrived by 6am.
It was the same as last year, so here's last year's photo.
We rehearsed for about 30 minutes with the choir, had a short time to take a break and chat, then the brass quartet played prelude music for about 15 minutes before the service started. I was unusually nervous but didn't ruin anything. Before I knew it the service was over and we'd done well. Just like last year, we were treated to a breakfast of homemade frittatas, muffin quarters, bagels, etc while congregation members introduced themselves, complemented our playing, and were generally wonderful.
The second service went just as quickly. It's a long drive but easy money, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to bring some beautiful music to this small church on Easter :)
I got back home around noon, had a light lunch, and got to work packing. Dried my small tenor and put it away for long term storage. Packed my suit jacket and remaining clothes. Jameson had gotten me some Easter candy...I ate some and packed some :p Then we watched The Traitors UK finale...it was REALLY good this year. No spoilers but the people who won absolutely deserved to win. From there Jameson gamed while I tried to stay awake long enough to make Easter dinner. VERY grateful to Past Me for making the potato salad and deviled eggs in advance!
The ham, deviled eggs, potato salad, roasted asparagus, and crescent rolls.
Everything was good-not-great, but I didn't put a lot of effort in. The ham was the star, I love the crunchy sugary bad-for-you crust!
Potato salad, next time I want it to have more acid...maybe mustard or dill pickle juice instead of sweet.
Jameson must have liked the deviled eggs because he ate three.
Additionally I'd gotten mini carrot cake parfaits and little mini tarts for us for dessert.
It was a lovely meal together, but I could tell that Jameson is sad that I'm leaving :(
I was also running on about four hours of sleep so was a bit spacey-brained, haha.
In fact I'm posting this tonight because tomorrow I'll be dead tired and doubt I'll have brain power for blogging.
But it's ok...if my flights are on time I plan to be in bed VERY early on Monday.
For now, I am just glad to be leaving with the house mostly clean and having accomplished a lot around the house.
Back to work.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday: Extremely early flight to Hartford. Hoping to arrive on time, get groceries, unpack, and crash/catch up on SLEEP.
Tuesday: Opening day in Hartford. Back on tour!
Jameson's alarm went off at 8:30. He went for his Mental Health Walk while I messed around online and had breakfast.
After Jameson had returned, had breakfast, showered, and gone off for a haircut, I practiced trombone for a solid hour. It was easier to switch from the bass to the tenor and back this time, which is a relief. Jameson got back and I admired his haircut :) then did a "faux pack" so I could see how much my luggage would weigh. Forty-four pounds (19.95 kg) without the pea coat, which is perfect because it's 80°F here (26.6°C) and will be 47°F in Hartford (8.3°C) so I want to throw the coat in the suitcase and yank it out once I arrive.
We had lunch together, then Jameson had some work to do and....well I didn't really know what to do with myself. I didn't want to go for a walk because it was hot out, and I have done pretty much all of the major chores. I made an ingredient list for Easter dinner and made a general plan for tomorrow. Wiped down a few things, checked the mail, tried out a new anime that was "meh," and was kinda bored.
Until our management team posted the Hartford info sheet and I realized I'd gotten the hotel wrong AGAIN.
This keeps happening because when Sonder went bankrupt, a lot of our Marriott hotel bookings were cancelled abruptly and without warning. Our management team had to re-book us in different hotels, which meant that the Route Sheet that I had been using to create Foodie Finds and map distances was now out of date. What I SHOULD be doing, going forward, is when our housing sign-ups go out a month before we arrive, cross-check and make sure the hotel is accurate. This time I was spared a major reworking of Foodie Finds because the new hotel is just a block or two over. But other times I may not be so lucky.
Anyway, got to kill an hour fixing Foodie Finds and sending it out again, then another hour with more anime and a snack. We watched some Cubs game or something, and ordered Panda Express for dinner, and then drove nearly an hour to Winter Park because Jameson's friend Roger was celebrating his birthday at a local dive bar there. Y'all probably know that dive bars are not my scene whatsoever, but if Jameson is with me I will go nearly anywhere :p
Also, Roger is the guitarist in a band called BarFly and Jameson used to be a member, so I know all of these guys pretty well (except the drummer, he's new and he's INCREDIBLE. We were all wowed by his performance.) And BarFly was performing at the bar for Roger's birthday. As a musician, is there a better way to spend a birthday than performing WHILE hanging out with your friends? :)
Roger is a pretty freaking awesome guitarist. Check it out:
After a few drinks Jameson was asked to come up and sing a song (former member so he knows their whole setlist.)
I took video but afterward he was being down on himself and self-conscious, so instead here are some screenshots.
He did just fine and I was super proud of him for rocking out! But I know what it's like to be self-critical.
There was a Mystery Vending Machines at the bar too! I'd had fun with one of these at an arcade bar a few years ago.
This one was a little more adult-themed than the last one!
I ended up getting the 90s mystery bag and a mystery enamel pin.
The enamel pin was this:
...and the 90s bag had some fun little toys, stickers, and candy, but honestly nothing worth keeping. A finger skateboard, knockoff Tamagotchi, self-inflatable foil balloon with a Pokemon on it, stuff like that. I passed everything around the table of Roger's friends and people got a kick out of it, especially the finger skateboard which ended up doing a lot of tricks on empty drink cups or across the backs of phones :D
Finally the bar started emptying out a bit around midnight, so we said our goodbyes. Gave Roger a hug and peaced out for the long drive home. I think we got to bed around 1:30am. I didn't shower which is super unusual for me (I HATE going to bed "dirty.")
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SATURDAY
I was up early, twitching because today's the day I prep Easter dinner and pick up the rental car that I'll need for both my Easter gig and to get to the airport on Monday. But first breakfast, typing this post, and boiling the eggs for deviled eggs. Since there's only us two, I only needed to boil the three leftover eggs we had in the fridge (which will make 6 deviled eggs, which is two more than either of us will eat)
Pro tips:
1) Add a splash of vinegar to your boiling water for PERFECT-PEEL eggs!!
2) When the eggs are done, IMMEDIATELY drop them into a bowl of ice water.
I am serious when I say this has NEVER failed me. Perfectly smooth and easy-to-peel eggs every time.
Jameson went for a walk while I was putting the eggs away, so I practiced first the bass then the small tenor. Had lunch with Jameson when he got back, then it was an Uber to the airport for the rental car.
This one was through Alamo and it was a "skip the counter" thing. I'd gotten a barcode in my email. Instead of going to the rental counter inside the terminal I went across the street to a rental car garage. Each lane was labeled just like a grocery aisle with signs hanging above: "Compact," "Minivans," etc. All of the cars have keys on the dash, you can pick any car.
(stock image, Google Maps)
I went down the "Compact" aisle and picked a random car, fired it up, drove it to the gate where an Alamo associate scanned my barcode, asked if I wanted any add-ons, then waved me off. From the time I was dropped off by the Uber to the time I pulled away, the entire process took about 15 minutes (and most of that was me walking to the garage.) I wish ALL car rentals were so easy.
First stop was HoneyBaked Ham. the smallest ham they had was far too big for us but I got it anyway. I'll just freeze most of it.
Next was Trader Joe's because there is a lot of hype around their crescent rolls. Got a can of those.
Last was Whole Paycheck where I got most of our Easter dinner ingredients and a hot bar dinner for myself as Jameson was going out with friends that night.
I got home around 3pm, had a snack, and got to work on Easter prep.
Split the ham in half and froze half, the rest in the fridge for tomorrow.
Got the potatoes washed and boiling on the stove for potato salad.
While that was going, cut the boiled eggs and made the deviled egg filling.
When the potatoes were done I let them cool while mixing up their dressing.
And when they were cool enough I cut the potatoes, tossed them in the dressing, and cleaned up the mess I'd made in the kitchen.
Now on Easter all I'll have to do is let the ham sit out, roast the asparagus, and bake the crescent rolls. Easy peasy!
I also got us some small mini-tarts and carrot cake parfait for dessert :)
Shortly thereafter Jameson left for his friend hang. I dry-Swiffered the floor one last time, packed up the tenor trombone and iPad, put the music stand in the rental car. Got my outfit laid out for tomorrow, triple-checked my arrival time, and set an alarm for 4am (uuuugh.) Ate my Whole Paycheck dinner. Took myself for one last neighborhood walk. And tried going to bed early, but failed miserably. I did doze off and woke up when Jameson got home (1am?).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUNDAY
Easter Sunday!
I was up at 4am. uuuugh.
Coffee, getting dressed in the dark, out the door by 4:45 or so. Drove straight to the church and arrived by 6am.
It was the same as last year, so here's last year's photo.
We rehearsed for about 30 minutes with the choir, had a short time to take a break and chat, then the brass quartet played prelude music for about 15 minutes before the service started. I was unusually nervous but didn't ruin anything. Before I knew it the service was over and we'd done well. Just like last year, we were treated to a breakfast of homemade frittatas, muffin quarters, bagels, etc while congregation members introduced themselves, complemented our playing, and were generally wonderful.
The second service went just as quickly. It's a long drive but easy money, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to bring some beautiful music to this small church on Easter :)
I got back home around noon, had a light lunch, and got to work packing. Dried my small tenor and put it away for long term storage. Packed my suit jacket and remaining clothes. Jameson had gotten me some Easter candy...I ate some and packed some :p Then we watched The Traitors UK finale...it was REALLY good this year. No spoilers but the people who won absolutely deserved to win. From there Jameson gamed while I tried to stay awake long enough to make Easter dinner. VERY grateful to Past Me for making the potato salad and deviled eggs in advance!
The ham, deviled eggs, potato salad, roasted asparagus, and crescent rolls.
Everything was good-not-great, but I didn't put a lot of effort in. The ham was the star, I love the crunchy sugary bad-for-you crust!
Potato salad, next time I want it to have more acid...maybe mustard or dill pickle juice instead of sweet.
Jameson must have liked the deviled eggs because he ate three.
Additionally I'd gotten mini carrot cake parfaits and little mini tarts for us for dessert.
It was a lovely meal together, but I could tell that Jameson is sad that I'm leaving :(
I was also running on about four hours of sleep so was a bit spacey-brained, haha.
In fact I'm posting this tonight because tomorrow I'll be dead tired and doubt I'll have brain power for blogging.
But it's ok...if my flights are on time I plan to be in bed VERY early on Monday.
For now, I am just glad to be leaving with the house mostly clean and having accomplished a lot around the house.
Back to work.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday: Extremely early flight to Hartford. Hoping to arrive on time, get groceries, unpack, and crash/catch up on SLEEP.
Tuesday: Opening day in Hartford. Back on tour!
no subject
Date: 2026-04-06 12:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-04-06 12:54 am (UTC)Maybe they meant the take-and-bake ones from the freezer? Idk, these tasted just like every canned crescent roll.
no subject
Date: 2026-04-06 01:16 am (UTC)Also, this is from a different post (but can't remember which) but I hope you'll find fun ways to fill your time during your two month layoff.
no subject
Date: 2026-04-06 06:23 am (UTC)Thanks. “Fun ways to fill my time” during the next layoff would, hopefully, include WORK. I can’t really afford to go that long with no income.
no subject
Date: 2026-04-07 04:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-04-06 01:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-04-06 12:58 pm (UTC)I love the ham-crust too.
no subject
Date: 2026-04-07 12:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-04-07 04:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-04-08 03:25 am (UTC)A lot of these rental car companies being sister companies, Enterprise/National/Alamo I haven't normally rented with because they tend to be more expensive. But Disney offers a discount to rent through them so I've been using them more lately, and they definitely offer expedited service and choose-your-own sometimes. But the others--Budget/Avis/Zipcar and Hertz/Thrifty/Dollar--have mostly not offered choose-your-own in my experiences so far. I like it! Hope it becomes more common.
no subject
Date: 2026-04-08 12:53 pm (UTC)I don't think I've ever rented a car from Hertz/Thrifty/Dollar because I've heard horrible things about their customer service and willingness to charge people for damages months after a rental has been completed.