goofball on a train

Thursday at Epic Universe again.

Today we had Warner Bros. "audits," which only meant that a lot of execs were at our first show specifically to review it and give feedback. Some of us were likely quivering in our boots, but ultimately only three of us would perform, and they of course chose Mariah (trombone), Adam (trumpet), and Adrian (clarinet). They're the preferred group, so we call them "the PR trio."

This was our first time seeing Mariah in costume and she ROCKED it. Especially the hat, now that I've worked at a hat shop I can see that the shape of it suits her face shape very well. Mariah is black, and the color of the suit is flattering against her skin tone. I was a bit jealous but costumes can't suit everyone who wears them, and this one is totally meant for her!

The PR Trio did all of the shows, all day. Which makes sense...why make costumes drag ALL of our costumes out, or put us ALL in makeup? But the rest of us sadly ended up doing nearly nothing all day. Yes we were paid, but it felt awkward that three of us were doing all the work and six of us were just sort of sitting around reviewing lines and blocking. I should appreciate the down time; we will get our turn.
(Fun fact: this happens in orchestra/theater pits as well, usually during rehearsals when actors and lighting/techs get bogged down in rehearsing stuff and forget that there are ten people below the stage who have done nothing for four hours. So it isn't uncommon or exclusive to Universal, performance arts just be that way sometimes.)


(The Epic Universe ad that aired during the Super Bowl)

After lunch we had a really exciting event: we got to see the stage show, Le Cirque Arcanus!!

(photo courtesy allears.net)

It was INCREDIBLE. I mean...here is where Disney is going to be strapped to come up with something that can compete. As usual I daren't share details, but the technology and staging and animatronics and puppetry and visuals and live performers, all coming together in this show, are STUNNING. I've never seen anything like it. You could actually believe you were watching wizarding magic being performed right in front of you. Really REALLY grateful that they let us see it today. Once the park is open we probably won't get another chance.

After that there was one more show, and we were pretty much done for the day.
I hadn't gotten to play my frankenbone other than to warm up, but Andrea is willing to use it as well since she also doesn't want her personal trombone to be used with our prop. Therefore I left Frankenbone in the green room tucked in a corner, and it will live there for any of us to use as needed, with our own mouthpieces of course and cleaning it regularly.

Before leaving today Mariah and I made a point to have a little photoshoot at the Epic Universe countdown clock.
We were denied a full-cast photo here last week, but Universal has since backtracked on that decision and started allowing pics here. It looks like it's too late for a full-cast photo now since too many people will be missing, so we figured at least we could get individual shots.

Just me, with the timeclock and wearing my Epic badge.


Mariah and I cheesing together:



Back home I packed meals as usual, practiced bass trombone, did a load of laundry, then got a bug up my butt to do more since Jameson was out watching our friend Lea perform in a show. After laundry I washed and changed our bedsheets, memorized some Disney music, and scrubbed the shower with a horrifically smelly bleach-based cleaner that Reddit says is the absolute best but warned me to ventilate to the extreme. Even with the vent fan on in the bathroom my eyes and throat were burning, so I had to open the door out to the pool deck and hold my breath while scrubbing away. Florida is very humid and mold and mildew reappear so quickly no matter how hard I scrub. When I was finished it really did look better, but I can only handle suffocating like that maybe 2-3 times a year. So it had better keep the mold away for a long time.

When Jameson got home I told him of my doings and we went right to bed.

Almost forgot, Andrea, the third female trombonist at Epic, got me an Easter gig! Usually I do the cathedral downtown in Orlando but they haven't asked yet. I'm grateful that she asked me :)

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Friday and another day at Epic. This time I was the one in costume and performing sets, which is good because I want the practice and also PR trio needs a break after they did all of the shows yesterday!

Our first set was canceled partly because @bioreconstruct was back, circling in his chartered helicopter. Now that previews are happening the park and everyone in it are behaving as though it's open for business, so there are people in costume and interactives and performances happening all over. There are still a lot of things that Universal wants to keep secret until the big reveal, and we are one of those things. So we ducked under an archway and waited, and waited. Additionally, there was a malfunction with our entrance door that probably ultimately led to the cancellation.

The rest of our sets went very well. We are getting used to working with our prop, interacting, and even the new changes that we've just learned in the past few days. I am getting used to how the costume feels, and learning how long it takes to get in and out of costume/makeup each day. And my "frankenbone," although it's not as fun to play as my own horn, will work for this show.

You know, I think we might be ready to do real shows! It feels like just yesterday we were panicking about memorizing our music. Time flies.

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Before our last set of the day, we were given something really special.
Our 3rd party boss had us get out of costume, then took us into the park.
He took us to our performance spot.
I wasn't sure what was happening, but he looked SO EXCITED.

Cosme Acajor's wand shop is right next to our performance space...

(Image from Harry Potter Fandom Wiki)

With a huge smile, he opened the door to the wand shop and said, "Go on in....pick out your wands!"

That's right: they bought us our very own wands today!!!!

(The nine never-before-released wand options at Cosme Acajor.)

It was overwhelming, suddenly faced with the very personal choice of which wand is "meant" for you! And there were so many to choose from. Cosme's new-release wands are displayed beautifully in the shop, each one on an ornate stand and bearing a description of materials and personal characteristics that may be a good match for the wand. In addition to these, there are character wands "imported" from Ollivander's (Harry's wand, Newt Scamander's, Snape's, Dumbledore's, Death Eater wands, etc) available for purchase. The Ollivander's wands are sold in rectangular boxes, and the Cosme wands in triangles ("prisms.")

After gawking like a tourist I just started popping open boxes to see what the wands looked like, because there were at least 20 different Ollivander's wands to choose from. I was tempted by Skender's wand as it's circus-related, but he was a bad guy known for chaining up animals so decided against. Tempted also by the Cosme black-and-silver Deco wand (the one that I'd thought suited my show character) but it had ultimately been designated to the clarinets' character, so I passed on that too. My character's wand, incidentally, was nowhere to be seen in the shop, but if I want to go get it I've got a gift receipt and could do an exchange.

In the moment and a little overwhelmed by choice, I decided to a) look for a wand that suited me as opposed to my park character, and b) strongly consider the Cosme wands as they are the ones that are actually from the "world" where I'm working. I did in fact end up with a Cosme wand, and although I felt a little dubious about it at the time, the more I look at it the more appropriate it seems.

Can you guess which of the nine Cosme wands I chose?

When we had all checked out we thanked our boss profusely. These wands are not cheap, and they are beautiful, and the fact that he was able to arrange for us to own one even though we are 3rd party is incredibly generous and kind. I am not a Wizarding World fan, but very much appreciate the gesture and having a memento of my time here at Epic Universe, however long that turns out to be.

With that, we performed our final set, got out of costume, and headed home.
On the way out we took a group photo in front of the time clock. Not everyone was present but it was still really nice.
Congrats on making it to Preview Week, everyone!


Some folks went to Top Golf for a fun night out, but I have so much to do that I had to pass.
Instead, Whole Paycheck for salmon dinner ingredients, then home to unpack and tell Jameson about my exciting day.
Practicing trombone, receiving a new transcription job, and making plans for my days off before going to bed.

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Up early but spent a lot of time responding to social media messages, as I've just shared that I'm working at Epic publicly for the first time. Everyone has a zillion questions about the new park, which isn't surprising but is a bit annoying when anyone could google the basic info....well anyway.

After that I had my tax meeting, and found out that I'll be breaking even this year, which is just fine by me.

Then made the dill sauce for salmon tonight, and decided to make some carrot cake muffins using leftover matchstick carrots. I used Half-Baked Harvest's recipe, which is semi-healthy and she has you drop a cube of cream cheese into the center of each muffin which should be lovely. I made them today because Jameson is going to a Savannah Bananas baseball game tomorrow with his friend Hannah, and they have to leave early, and I figure they could take some muffins with them to enjoy on the drive :)


Then lunch, and cleaning up from that took a little while so by the time I sat down to do more transcription it was already 2pm. For dinner I made sous vide salmon with dill sauce, creamy lemon orzo, and roasted asparagus. It turned out quite good.

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Sunday, up early after a crummy sleep to do transcription.

Jameson got up shortly after, and his friend Hannah came to the house so they could leave for the Savannah Bananas game in Miami together. It's 8 hours round-trip driving, so I packed them some muffins to go with their other snacks and they left around 10am.

After they were gone I had quite the productive Alone Day:

     - About 2 hours of transcription
     - 1 hour trombone practice
     - Packing meals, clothes, and equipment for Epic tomorrow
     - Vacuumed, dusted, and mopped, which took quite a long time as I haven't done it in a while and was very thorough about it
     - Shopped for misc things like Tupperware to replace ones that broke recently, new underwear, and random household supplies
     - Shopped for crummy trombones on Goodwill so we'd have more than one at Epic (why I'm the one who has to do this is beyond me, but whatever)

By the time all of that was done it was 5pm, so made myself leftovers and a cup of tea and enjoyed typing this post and a little down time.

Tomorrow will be a very early Epic day, but Dwight is gone again so I think it'll just be our sets and hopefully ending at 4pm instead of 6pm. Also, I'm going to start bass trombone lessons this week! Excited and nervous, but looking forward to getting better at the bass trombone.

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Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: An Epic-Disney sandwich, with two Epic days flanking a Disney day. I'll be bringing my transcription work with me too.

Thursday: The first of FOUR WHOLE DAYS OFF IN A ROW. I'll finish transcription, do more household stuff, take my first bass trombone lessons, and cook us some nice meals.

Thursday I was still up too early...I've been conditioned!

Received a new transcription job right away (yay!) so after breakfast I got to work setting that up.
Jameson went to the gym and while he was gone I scanned all of my tax documents and set up a tax appointment (I use Brass Taxes if anyone's interested.) Partway through that process Keith messaged to ask if I could cover for him at Disney on March 4, and that's a day where I'm at Epic, so I messaged the other Epic trombone ladies to see if anyone could cover for me. Andrea could not, but Mariah could.

Disney remains my priority, so I will ALWAYS try to accommodate them even if it means losing a day at Epic (maybe someday I'll go into detail about why that is, and some of you can probably guess based on posts. But if you're stumped, for now just think of it as "first come first serve," and Disney hired me FIRST.)

A small snack and then bass trombone practice, followed by packing meals for Epic tomorrow, eating lunch, and starting transcription.
It was so, so nice to just have a quiet day on my butt and neither in a construction zone nor stomping all over creation.

Later on we both stopped working to watch the first baseball game of the season which happened to be Cubs v Dodgers. Ordered Olive Garden for dinner. Jameson gamed, I worked on Foodie Finds and trolled around for a new anime to watch. A nice night.

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Up at 5:30am for Epic.

UPDATE: Remember that time I got to eat at Cafe Lair de la Sirene? And mentioned that the dessert was fantastic? Well now that the dining options for that restaurant have been officially revealed...

...it was the butterbeer crepes!

They were SO GOOD. Essentially butterscotch crepes...but even the whipped cream was butterscotch-flavored, and the crepes were so perfect and light and thin. This one's a must-eat at Epic Universe.

(photo courtesy orlandoparkstop.com)

We started the day fairly normally, with a warm-up and one rehearsal show in our spot in the park.
Then we had a session of character building with our entertainment manager, Rusty. He led us in developing our characters by consciously thinking about how we interacted with each other...or rather, how our characters would respond to each other instead of just presenting for an audience. Doing this will make things feel less forced/scripted. I thought it went really well, and it made me excited to think about how expressive we could be as our characters.

We'd planned to do another show after that, but the fire alarm went off so we were all hustled outside. Upon being hustled back INside just a few minutes later, another of our managers whisked us off to Wardrobe for a costume fitting!

As someone who has worked for many amusement parks and shows, by this time I am very used to fittings and what they entail. Mostly you just strip down to underwear or some kind of fitted undergarment, then people measure the crap out of every inch of you and ask you your sizes (they've asked before, but they'll keep asking always in case anything's changed.) And once that's done they'll slap a costume on you piece by piece, see how each piece fits and looks, and tweak or pin it while it's still on your body. Plus lots and lots of photos from every angle to help them make more decisions after you've left.

Since I can't record this process, here's a 2-minute video that very well captures what it's like.
I especially like how the wardrobe folks describe their process for curating the look for the character.



This fitting had a lot more people in the room, and as I hadn't known there'd be a fitting today I hadn't shaved my legs :(
But although I felt 50% embarrassed, the other 50% of my brain was proclaiming subconsciously, "It's a CONSTRUCT. Leg hair is natural, so is armpit hair. And if hairy legs on a woman is the worst thing these people have ever seen, then they haven't seen much at all!" Lol. Thanks, I guess, subconscious.

I'm not allowed to describe my costume, but today was my first time seeing it and I have to say that I mostly like it very much. The colors and materials are nice, and I especially enjoy the pattern on the shirt. There's one part that I don't really care for, but it's for cooler weather so hopefully I won't have to wear it *crosses fingers*

I also got to see the boys' costumes, which are very different but period-appropriate and rather dashing, each in their own way. And the colors across our costumes are complementary, so that is nice as well. Lots of photos were taken, and we even got to pose with our instruments while in costume! I can't wait for you to see them. Many of my friends will guffaw at mine...it is definitely out of character for me...but not for my character!

(Psst....if you're an LJ or DW, there's gonna be a Friends Only post related to this............just sayin'.............)

After we'd re-dressed we got to wolf down a late lunch before heading out for training with our Main Prop!
That pesky NDA...I can't tell you a single thing about it other than we were able to touch it and interact with it for the first time, and it looks great and a lot of work has gone into it. There are still tweaks and fixes to be made, but we are closer and closer to actually using it! Between that and the costumes, it's all very exciting and makes it feel like the opening of Epic Universe is right around the corner. Eeeeee!!

After an eventful day I drove home, caught Jameson up on my doings, and did an hour of transcription since I hadn't had a moment to work on it today. After that it was a quiet evening.

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Up at 6:30am to transcribe and make caramels.

I don't want to be up this early, but was scheduled for an additional day at Epic.
Which is great--could always use more money--but I lose a day of spending time catching up on Life Things.

When I told Jameson I'd be making the caramels, and then driving an hour on Tuesday to deliver them, he chided me, "Don't kill yourself bending over backwards for other people. You've got to take care of yourself, too!"

He's right. But I also think maybe he's forgotten that the guy I'm making caramels for bent over backwards for ME, by emergency-repairing my bass trombone on Christmas Eve night, for free, and then even giving me a case to use for free (although it didn't fit and I ended up returning it.) The absolute least I can do is take a little time out of my day to make him caramels. That said, Jameson's right that it doesn't have to be done this exact moment. But I've already put it off twice due to Epic and I just want to have it done. Plus, we have group rehearsals again next week so I'll be able to bring them in for everyone else too!

Anyway, Transcription for an hour, breakfast for a half, caramels took about 90 minutes and turned out great.
Best batch I've made in a while, entirely because I was patient and didn't keep cranking the temp up.


Lunch, then packing meals for Epic and practicing bass trombone, plus Disney memorization. I only memorized one piece but that's ok, one is better than none and it's ok to start gradually. After that a snack and the other half of my Dragon's Milk beer while transcribing. Meanwhile Jameson did his own taxes, gamed, and watched the Cubs game. We were both very appreciative to have a slowish day.

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And Sunday, another day at Epic. I forgot that traffic would be lighter on the weekend and got up too early, but it was ok.

Apparently we are now doing "mock service" in our part of the park.

"Mock service" or "mock run/shift" is restaurant lingo, and describes a training exercise where employees practice their roles on other employees instead of on paying customers. This is meant to be a low-pressure simulation of what a restaurant will be like when it's open, allowing waiters to practice reciting menu items, checking on guests, serving food, processing payments, etc without having to worry about screwing up and causing a bad guest experience.

In Epic Universe right now, this means that the restaurants and some stores are open to serve a limited menu or sell limited goods, and only to Universal employees who are working or rehearsing that day. And some of the rides are open for employees to ride, too! And of course, performers like us are being asked to put on full sets in the park to not only practice ourselves, but to test audio systems in the park and gauge audience interest and reactions.

(Stardust Racers, a dueling coasters ride in Celestial Park and probably the most visible ride in the park. Employees were able to test-ride it today! Image publicly available at universalorlando.com)

All of this meant that we immediately went to costumes, to get suited up for our first performance, in costume, in the park!
My costume had been hemmed to fit me better, and I gotta be honest...I LOVE IT (aside from the winter piece previously mentioned, which I won't have to wear anyway :p ) I also found out that I'm gonna have to wear makeup (boooo) and do my hair a certain way. I have only worn makeup one other time in my life, when I worked for Busch Gardens. Which, incidentally, was also the only other time my costume was a DRESS and I was treated as a WOMAN instead of one of the guys. So, there you have it. My character is very feminine, and so shall I be while I'm her :)

As it turned out, we weren't able to do our "real" show anyway because certain elements were not ready. We did our best with a sort of "concept of a plan" of our show. People still seemed to enjoy it very much, and it wasn't hard other than being a routine we hadn't rehearsed (I was so very nervous!) We got a good response and it felt good to be in costume, and REALLY feel like we were performing for actual guests.

We did only three sets, and in between rested or enjoyed the mock service in the park (we were allowed to participate too!) Still, after being fussed over by wardrobe/makeup, and performing a set we've never done for bigger crowds than usual, I felt drained at the end of the day. Drained, but happy. It was a good one.

Went to Whole Paycheck for sushi for Jameson and I, then at home after catching Jameson up I cut and wrapped the caramels, practiced bass trombone, memorized another Disney song, and did a bit more transcription. It was a busy but productive day. Many more of those to come, I'm sure.

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Monday & Tuesday: two days off in a row, what a dream! Transcription, housework, practicing, cooking, delivering caramels to Bill to thank him for repairing my bass trombone.

Wednesday: The start of three days of Epic rehearsals, which we have been calling "The Dwight Days" because our show director Dwight will be back from California to cram stuff into our heads again.

If I'm not interacting with your posts as much, please don't be surprised RE: suddenly working from 8am-7pm every day.
I'll try to catch up on weekends.

Also sorry for the lack of photos. For the very obvious reasons that I cannot even think about taking my phone out while at the new theme park, and having signed the NDA.

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Had a horrible night's sleep on Wednesday into Thursday. Something fell over in Jameson's studio and made a loud crash at 1am, scared the absolute daylights out of me (my Apple Watch informs me that my heart rate jumped up to 111 bpm when it happened.) I walked two circuits of the house looking for whatever-it-had-been before I realized it was a piece of his wall lighting that had fallen off and gone crashing into a shelf. F*cking hell.

This was followed by absolutely horrific stress dreams about an imaginary blonde-haired, blue-eyed nephew who got ahold of BOTH of my rare, one-of-a-kind Williams trombones....both of them!....and smashed them to dented useless messes while I was at work(?) In the dream I was screaming at the top of my lungs, crying, and very sincerely trying to murder this child with every ounce of dream-strength in me (I was trying to choke him to death.) I never can seem to kill people in dreams, which I suppose is part of what makes it a stress dream; the tormentor always survives and justice is not served.

At least it was good to wake up and realize it had only been a dream.

Breakfast, and off to Epic Universe rehearsal again.


The cranky mood from Wednesday persisted, and at first I was annoyed with myself because this is the second day in a row that I'm acting like it's a chore to be there when it should be thrilling and exciting and a dream come true. But at these times I take care to consider the WHYS behind the feelings:

     1) I'm an introvert, and have now spent four straight days and 28 hours in a brightly-lit room with a group of loud, excited, boisterous actor-musicians and one endlessly energetic and attentive Show Director. I've had almost no time to decompress and "recharge" my introvert batteries.

     2) The way that I memorize music is to spend time with the music. Alone. In a quiet place where I can hear myself think and focus fully on memorization. All rehearsals so far have been group activities, we have not been given any "alone time" for personal memorization, and yet it's expected that we should have started memorizing by now. This has been incredibly frustrating for me.

     3) Standing in front of a group of people and acting out a character, in a loud voice, is something that I have NEVER done in all my 40 years on earth and I would have collapsed in utter terror if I had even tried it at a younger age. I am doing something THAT intense and scary, for the very first time in my life, for the past four days straight, and although I'm happy to be doing it it is incredibly stressful.

     4) In the back of my mind all week have been my Disney music and upcoming fill-in dates, the bass trombone music I'm supposed to be practicing for a potential tour, the possibility of losing my transcription job for this theme park, and the housework piling up while I'm away all week.

     5) On average I've only gotten about 5 hours of sleep per night, on top of all that's happening while I'm awake. Which may be enough for some people but definitely not for me.

So when I really think about it, there are plenty of reasons to be moody even though this is such a wonderful and exciting situation!
I am doing my absolute best to simply be quiet and keep to myself when in such moods, rather than snapping at people around me or detracting from rehearsal. There's nothing I can do about it this week except take deep breaths and plow ahead.

The most exciting thing that happened today was that we got to actually see where we'll be performing in the park!! There was still so much construction going on, but our section of the park is the only area where PPE is not required. This means we were the FIRST performers in the park!!! Incredible.
(CLICK HERE to see flyover of Ministry of Magic world)

And it WAS incredible. God, I wish I could describe it to you. I've said this like eight times but if you're a Harry Potter or Fantastic Beasts fan you will lose your mind. The only spoiler I can give at this point is that big parts of this "world" are to-scale, brick-for-brick renderings of parts of the Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald movie..........

(photo from discoveruniversal.com)

Aaaanyway. After visiting the spot we watched a bit of the movie to see the parts where our set appears. We also did run-throughs again, this time in a slightly different format as we were missing some musicians with prior commitments. I also got a more definite schedule finally, so ended up emailing and texting misc bosses to let them know that for the next several weeks my time is limited.

After rehearsal I picked up dinner and got home to Jameson, packed lunch for tomorrow, told him about my day, etc etc. His surgery wounds are healing nicely, and he's been told he can use his arm as normal to build up strength.

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Friday I was excited to get the day over with!
Again not that I don't enjoy what we're doing, but it's been a very intense week and I'd really like to get a full night's sleep.

Rehearsal today was rhythm exercises, as well as running through the music and practicing the script as we had in previous days. We also recorded ourselves and watched it back, something that I hate doing but is very informative. For example I learned that although I had planted my feet while acting, as we were told to do, I still sway back and forth which is distracting for the audience. Was able to stop doing it on the next take, and will make a conscious effort about it going forward.

Back home it was nice to drop my things and relax without having to pack a lunch or set clothes out or do transcription.
I also got a few more Main Street Philharmonic dates in February, which means that for about a week during that month I'll be bouncing back and forth between the two parks. It feels like working for Coke and Pepsi at the same time, lol. Definitely one of the top unexpected things to happen in my musical career!

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Saturday, I slept poorly and was up at 7:30. That's normal after a week of getting up early, so I was not upset.

It was so nice to have a slow breakfast and enjoy the quiet house. Aaaaah. :)

Once Jameson was up I vacuumed, went out to get bagels and groceries, practiced bass trombone, had lunch, and went for a walk. Called my stepmom on the walk, she recently had a fall and bashed her face up pretty badly but she's recovering well.

Back home we had taco salads for dinner. After the intensity of the week I felt too tired to memorize so left it for tomorrow.

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I must have been exhausted because I didn't wake up until 9, which is late for me.
It felt good. I needed the rest, but I also felt guilty for losing potentially productive hours.

Breakfast and when Jameson got up I practiced the bass for 30 minutes, then buckled down to memorize for an hour.
There are five pieces total, plus the script, to memorize. My goal today was to get the first piece and ALL of my lines, and I think I've got it (you always think you've got it until you're doing it in front of other people.) We went to the grocery in the afternoon, he did laundry, and I packed lunch and breakfast for tomorrow. It rained for about two hours which was nice and soothing. For dinner I made sloppy joes with coleslaw and smiley fries. We watched The Traitors and I ordered myself a new lavender-and-rice pad/pillow. My sister made them for us one year for Christmas and I've become quite attached to it, but it's several years old and is getting worn. Lord knows I could use some nice aromatherapy right now.

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Monday through Thursday: more rehearsals. We're supposed to be rehearsing in our actual performance spot this week, but it's supposed to rain so we'll see what happens. I'll be very tired because I'll also have to practice bass and memorization once I get home each night :/

Also:
     RE: TikTok getting banned: Where is my health care?
     RE: Trump's inauguration: Health care?
     RE: People crying, screaming, and ranting about either TikTok or Trump: But when do we get health care?

All of this daytime soap drama about TikTok and Trump is a distraction from Real Actual Issues.
HEALTH CARE. INFRASTRUCTURE. LIVING WAGES.
I don't care which party you're from, if those aren't your priorities then you do not represent me or my needs.

I was able to ride the company charter bus to the airport on Monday. Flights were normal, in Charlotte the tour stopped and stayed because that’s our last city, but many people traveled home for Christmas from there. I had a flight to Orlando which went just fine, and Jameson picked me up from the airport.

I can tell he’s not feeling great mentally, from his body language and such. I asked how his arm is, and he says it doesn’t hurt but he can’t feel his thumb or pinky finger normally, they’re constantly tingling or numb. His surgery will be on New Year’s Eve Day. He is very nervous about it, naturally. This will either help him, or end his career as a pianist. I am terrified for him, but also determined to support him in any way that I can.

Anyway. We talked about that, and how his work is going, and games he’s into and shows he’s watching. I avoided the subject of my new and exciting gig, because I know he’s got feelings to work through about it and I know (from personal experience) how difficult it is to talk about something, that someone else got, that you maybe wanted for yourself. I get that.

Back home, Jameson has decorated the house for Christmas! We have new lights and they are awesome!
You can do all different colors and patterns. CLICK HERE to see!

I cringed a bit at how dusty the house is, and the state of the bathrooms, but I’ll do my best to get things clean before Jameson’s surgery. I won’t be cleaning for Christmas, though. No time.

We ordered taco salads for dinner, then I did a load of laundry, washed our bedsheets, and went out to brave the last-minute shopping crowds for Christmas dinner ingredients and stocking stuffers for Jameson. It took WAY longer than usual…traffic was horrific. But I got everything more or less.

Back home, our neighbors came over to drop off cookies (woot!) so we each had one and then relaxed for the rest of the night. Well, he relaxed and I wrapped presents and assembled stockings. Also, while out driving I’d noticed that my climate control panel in my car was not working.

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Tuesday, Christmas Eve Day, turned out to be unfortunately anything but relaxing.

I was up at 6:30am to take my car to Firestone…and of course they opened an hour later than usual for the holiday. So I dozed in my car with a Wawa coffee until they opened. An additional 30 minutes of sitting in this waiting room, only to be told that the problem is with my car's BRAIN, meaning I'd need to take it to a dealership. Called the two closest to me (30-40 minute drives) and both unsurprisingly had no openings on a holiday.


Initially I thought maybe I could still drive up to Charlotte with my car--everything else seems to be working, right?--but both the mechanic and Jameson seemed to think that was a Bad Idea. Apparently if your car's computer (PCM) goes bad, your car could just...stop? Lose power? The problem is, it's unclear whether it's the brain (PCM) or the AC control module malfunctioning. But Jameson was adamant that I not drive my own car, to the point of offering to pay for the rental car for me. So...f*ck. Now I needed to find a rental car on Christmas Eve Day. Sigh.

But one thing at a time. I got home and made us Christmas breakfast. We had basic shake-n-bake pancakes, with a blueberry compote that my sister made and egg nog whipped cream. I also added Greek yogurt so I could pretend I'm healthy. It was simple but very good.


We then opened Christmas presents and stockings together.
Jameson's parents got me the latest Half-Baked Harvest cookbook, and Jameson got me a Japanese Classics cookbook! I've already dog-eared a bunch of new recipes to try (when I'm home...I might make some things and freeze them for Jameson.) Conveniently, one of Jameson's presents was salicornia "salt." Jameson has Meniere's, which means too much sodium causes him to have vertigo and nausea. Salicornia tastes just like salt but actually contains only half the sodium of regular salt. So theoretically he should be able to eat more of it with less ill effect. And THAT means that I could probably try making the ramen in the cookbook he got me!

Anyway, another lovely present was from my sister Kate. She made all of her own gifts this year. Pistachio butter, peanut butter, brown sugar syrup, homemade granola, garlic salt, a clove-scented candle, and a lovely decoration. Homemade gifts really are the best. I used to do this too, but haven't had time any more.


Jameson's presents to me were very thoughtful, as usual!
Look at these hilarious bread-themed computer cushions! Baguette for wrists, croissant for mouse hand/wrist.


And these adorable alligator socks! There will probably be more pictures of these, for now I want to protect them so will only wear them once tour is over.


His big gift to me this year was an Apple Watch!!! He REALLY shouldn't have done that, argh.
I spent a lot of time this afternoon getting used to it. It's shockingly comfortable...twice today I almost submerged my hand with the watch on! (It's waterproof but still.) Probably the most useful part of it is going to be accurate fitness tracking. With an accurate BPM and other vital signs, I'll be able to see how many calories I really burn instead of having to guess. Convenient!

In the afternoon he drove me to the nearest Avis for a rental car. I felt very stressed about this...that's hundreds more dollars that I didn't plan on spending, all because I stupidly thought I could just grab my car out of storage and shoot up the coast with it. The cost of this added to Jameson's tension and I think made him feel guilty for insisting, but I also do see his point about my car's computer being a risk, especially for a long-distance drive on a holiday when I may not be able to get help if something goes wrong. And money aside, I am abashed and very touched that he is worried for me.

Back home was another shock.
My bass trombone arrived!! FOUR DAYS early!!
How that's even possible, coming from California, I have no idea. But I was amazed and excited.
That was the good news.

The bad news: I opened the case and the bell was CRUSHED.


This 100% happened because the guy who packed it didn't do it properly. And that made me REALLY mad.
I LITERALLY texted him a week ago describing how I wanted him to pack it...and describing exactly what ended up happening to this horn because he didn't do ask I asked.


Like...are you kidding me??? Why???
Probably because it's a busy time of year and he just threw it in the case with some loose bubble wrap and thought it would be fine. But dude, that is so not enough. I didn't want to be a Karen on Christmas, but couldn't help but send him pictures and express how disappointed I was that it had showed up in this condition entirely because he didn't do what I asked. He apologized profusely, I huffed a bit more but accepted that what's done is done, and he found a buddy in Florida who says it can be repaired (it probably can be, crushed bells are shockingly common.) In fact, this person's house is on my route to Charlotte, so he agreed that I could drop the horn off on Christmas day and pick it up on the way back down. Considering that I didn't even expect to get the horn until the new year anyway, this is perfect and the best I could hope for.

And yes of course the guy who sent the horn will pay for the repairs. Butthead!

Otherwise, the slide and rotors are quite good. So as long as the bell can be repaired I'll be satisfied. It was just very stressful and disappointing to receive it damaged like this after I SPECIFICALLY SAID...argh. Well, you know.

The trombone arriving damaged compounded the stress of unexpectedly renting a car, and the stress-guilt that Jameson was feeling for insisting on that cost. If you've kept up, I've bought a bass trombone that's damaged and now needs repairs, my car needs repairs as soon as tour is over, and I have to rent a car unexpectedly for this last leg of tour. FUUUUUUUUUUUU

Also, here is what the first week of 2025 looks like for me:

     - Dec. 30: Drive 10 hours to Orlando, picking up repaired bass trombone on the way
     - Dec. 31: Jameson has hand surgery
     - Jan. 1: I expect to spend the day cleaning and taking care of Jameson post-surgery but also need to practice for an audition
     - Jan. 2: Appointment to have car repaired (will probably take between 4-6 hours + the commute)
     - Jan. 3: Driving 4 hours round trip to Warburton for a bass trombone mouthpiece (this one didn't come with one)
     - Jan. 3: Supposed to start receiving transcription jobs again, including urgent/express jobs
     - Jan. 4: Acting coaching class for my audition for Universal
     - Jan. 5: Audition for Universal
     - Jan. 6 thru 8: Oh my god, could I possibly finally unpack from tour?

I really doubt that all of this will actually happen...like, I'll probably have to delay getting a mouthpiece for the bass, which means delaying practicing it. And I might need to delay transcription too. And I don't know what Jameson's needs will be during this time either. It feels like a lot. It'll probably be ok, but it feels like 2025 has grabbed me by the collar and is THROTTLING me.

Anyway, we relaxed for the afternoon, I packed a bit and made all of the arrangements for the bass repair and car service, then for dinner we tried out the new grill that Jameson's parents got us! Jameson fired it up while I did prep on the veggies and sides. The burgers turned out great! Jameson said he'd have wanted maybe 3 minutes more as they turned out medium-rare, but they were still restaurant-quality. I also tried grilling some zucchini slices that turned out delicious. Can't wait to grill more!


More relaxation after that, eating Christmas cookies and trying to lower our stress levels.

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This post was heckin' longer than intended. I thought it would be a nice quiet Christmas Eve Day, but it turned into quite the stress-fest. Oh well, the world doesn't stop turning just because it's a holiday. Merry Christmas everyone!

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Wednesday: 10 hour drive to Charlotte

Thursday: two shows and an afterparty hosted by the theatre

Friday, Saturday, & Sunday: last six shows of Elf the Musical on tour.

Sunday's hat:


It's my no-trim Kathy Jeanne straw hat, with one of the store's elastic trim bands attached. Disney-themed, with a cotton candy-colored castle and blue and pink feathers. The band is too tight so I only wore this hat for four hours, then switched to a fuzzy winter hat so I wouldn't get a headache.


Customizing the trim on this hat should be fun and easy. While on tour I'll check thrift stores for scarves, belts, or ribbons.

Ah yes tour...that thing I'll be doing IN A WEEK.
And they STILL haven't gotten us the music!! :(

I mean...I've been practicing the original score, so expect I'll be fine. They're overnighting us the books today or tomorrow, which means I'll have to find room in my luggage for a binder full of music.

Anyway, Monday I woke up mildly annoyed about all that there is left to do. But grateful that I might still be able to do most of it.

Today's Stuff:

- A load of laundry
- Trip to bagel shop (French toast, cinnamon raisin, egg)
- To Publix for a roll of quarters for tour laundry
- Transcription
- Practicing Christmas Disney stuff + a little Elf
- Prepping mutes for possible shipping to Kentucky tomorrow
- Planning dinner tomorrow
- Finding Pumpkinhead beer for Jameson (one is for meeee)
- More transcription
- A nice walk with Jameson :)

I didn't get as much done today as I wanted to, but there is still time and every little bit helps.

Technology-Is-Cool Sidenote: Pumpkinhead Ale is really difficult to find around here. Publix gets a limited amount but it sells out VERY quickly. Today I could only find it at Total Wines an hour away (two hours of driving round-trip.) But then I remembered that you can order alcohol via DoorDash! I checked, and there was a small liquor store that had it in stock a 30-minute drive away. I ordered some and it showed up right as we were finishing dinner. The Dasher scanned my ID, and that was that.
It only cost slightly more than the in-person price, and saved me a HUGE long drive to get something nice for Jameson. Yay!

(stock image)

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Tuesday, Jameson was up early for Jollywood rehearsal.

After he left I had breakfast and did transcription until my Elf music showed up, at which point I stopped to check some other things off my to-do list:

- Booked a rental car for Candlelight rehearsal in November
- Printed a gift card to add to Jameson's birthday presents
- Ran and emptied dishwasher
- Put recycling out
- Deadheaded the petunia
- Shipped my mutes to the hotel in Kentucky (I hate doing this but each one is the size of a wine bottle, and there are FIVE OF THEM, they take up SO MUCH SPACE in my luggage!!)
- Target for dinner ingredients + last-minute tour items
- Practiced and marked mute changes in my new Elf book
- Ordered more crap for tour on Amazon
- Cooked pork chops for dinner
- Voted!

Preparing for tour always costs more than I expect. This time I had to get new black socks, some new toiletry bottles, and music editing materials since I have to deal with a PAPER book. The original plan was to scan the music to PDF, and I probably still will. But when I got the book there was a not inside implying that they REALLY want us to use the physical book. Plus, whoever arranged it actually did a really good job with the page turns. So...okay. I'll try using the book :p


This year I voted by mail. The ballot didn't show up for two weeks so I thought it was lost and requested another. And today the other one showed up! I spent a solid 40 minutes researching the candidates and the amendments up for consideration (because I'm a centrist and don't believe in voting for someone just because of their party affiliation)


Vote, y'all.


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Wednesday I woke up mildly panicked, thinking about all that's left still to do.

What's still on my To-Do List:

- Weeding front yard
- Thorough cleaning of whole house (vacuuming, mopping, dusting, cleaning the bathrooms, scrubbing both showers, washing bedsheets)
- Finish packing
- Wash trombone
- Pumpkin carving with Jameson
- Finish final transcription project
- Leave plant care instructions for Jameson

This may not seem like a lot, but "thorough cleaning of whole house" is many tasks in one. And I still have two hat shop shifts, and need to practice not only the changes to my Elf music but also Main Street Philharmonic music and Candlelight music. Plus there's cooking final meals for Jameson, and roasting the pumpkin seeds after carving. It's all stressing me out tbh, and the last two days have not felt like days off at all.

Today's activities:

- Putting ballot in mail
- Transcription
- Practicing new Elf part and making notations
- Ordering Pub Sub for dinner and picking it up.
- Getting ingredients for crock pot oats for Friday
- Transferring dish soap and olive oil to new Nalgene bottles
- Watering petunias
- Moving some things to garage for storage while I'm gone

Transcription ended up taking longer than expected because I had a lot of questions, but I did finally get it done.
Practicing also took a long time because I had to stop and practice the new parts over and over.
As I type this, the Nalgene bottles just showed up so I'll be filling them momentarily.

Soon it's time for my second-to-last hat shop shift.
Thursday's hat will be in the next post.

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Thursday: Scrambling to get more tour stuff done, editing and submitting transcription project, buying pumpkins for carving, practicing the other half of Elf (I only got through half the book today), making overnight crock pot oats

Friday: Crock pot oats and pumpkin carving with Jameson, making pumpkin seeds (or at least starting the process,) washing bedsheets, practicing if needed, finishing packing, any chores that I can knock out

Saturday: Any and all of the household cleaning. Hoping it will go faster than I think. Last-minute tour prep. Possible trip to the thrift store to drop stuff off.

Sunday: I'm hoping to mostly rest, but also anything I haven't done yet. Because Monday...off I go.

Sunday's Hat:


I was delighted to find these among the winter hats! Wearing it drew a lot of interest, and several people tried it on throughout the night. Finally someone bought one, which pleased me greatly as that was the first sale of that hat since they've arrived. "Wear the hat you want to sell!"

It was very busy all night, but we were fully staffed for most of it so we got through it. And because there were more hands to help with closing tasks we got out of there more quickly too.

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Monday's activities:

- Mailing the condolence letters to my step-aunt and stepmom (aaaand it's Indigenous Peoples Day so the letters sat out there all day.)
- Requesting a new vote-by-mail ballot as mine was sent on 10/03 and either never appeared or I threw it out accidentally
- Laundry
- Trombone practice with a focus on mute changes (such a pain argh mutes)
- Making the caramels I've promised to send before going on tour
- Sweeping hurricane debris from the pool patio
- Meeting w/transcription QA person

For the first time in a really long time, I messed up my caramels.

Near the end of the process, just as the temperature of the candy was starting to hit remove-from-heat stage, I smelled burning. But there was nothing I could do with only three degrees to go; I just kept stirring and then removed from the burner as soon as the correct temp was hit.

Upon pouring out the caramel I saw that one small crescent-shaped sliver on the bottom of the pan was truly burnt, like my spatula hadn't even touched there.

What I believe happened is that I used a different spatula today, and it's the wrong shape.
The purple spatula is the one I used (it's also discolored after only one use which is disappointing.)
The red spatula is the kind I've used in the past (I went out and bought it from Publix after realizing what had happened.)


You can kinda see that the purple one doesn't have as much surface area at the tip because it's so strongly curved. The red one has a defined flat surface area, if that makes sense. I think I was doing my normal stirring pattern, but the new spatula wasn't reaching an area of the pan, hence it burned.

Anyway the caramel is still good, but it's not **PERFECT** so I feel disappointed :(
After tasting it myself and making Jameson taste it, we agreed that it doesn't have a burnt flavor/aftertaste.
So if you're getting caramels from me: I'm so very sorry. They're not the best example of what I can do, and I wanted you to have the BEST caramels I could make :( :(  But hopefully you will still enjoy them, and you will let me try again after the holidays?

The transcription meeting was to let me know that I've done well enough to be allowed to turn in work without direct supervision/correction from now on. YAY! This is a type of work that I very much enjoy, and it's important to me to do an exceptional job. They seem well pleased and that was wonderful to hear. There are still quite a few things that I need to work on, but many of them are experience-based (I will understand things better as I go.)

This bucked up my mood from the earlier caramel fail.
The rest of the night was quiet.

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Tuesday's doings:

- Setting up and starting my new transcription project
- Processing the caramels (cutting and wrapping them, forgot to photograph this process)
- Lowe's for a hanging basket for one of the petunias
- A local car repair shop that has serviced my car many times, to drop off caramels I've promised like four times lol
- Checking on my vote-by-mail ballot (it'll be here soon)
- Grocery for ingredients for tomorrow's dinner
- Shipping caramels to an LJ friend :)
- More transcription
- Closing shift at the hat shop

Today's hat:


Yes I've technically worn this hat already in a different color, but that was on Hurricane Day and there were almost no customers, so I feel it's OK to have a repeat just this once :p

It was moderately busy and we beat our sales goal by over $1000, yay (we don't get commission, just $1/hr extra in pay for that day, which frankly is the equivalent of finding five bucks in your coat pocket.) At the end of the night I was less cheery than usual because my back was hurting again...I don't suppose it could be because after straining it, I then swept and mopped at the hat shop two shifts in a row, and also spent 40 minutes sweeping our pool deck. DUH. Well, hopefully the massage on Friday will work that out.

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Wednesday was the first "cool" day of "fall" here in Florida. It was about 68°F (20°C) when I woke up. I opened the screen door to enjoy it while eating breakfast.

Today I didn't have a to-do list because the transcription work trumped everything else.
Worked on it all morning, ate lunch, practiced Elf.

After lunch Jameson and I went out back and breathed the cool air. I'm from the northeastern U.S. and Jameson lived in the north for a significant time as well, so we both often long for cooler, drier weather. In 48 hours it's supposed to be back up to the mid-80s. We will savor this cool weather while it lasts and what a treat it was today. Never thought that I would view temperatures in the mid-60s as a rare treasure, but here we are.

For dinner I made us butter chicken meatballs with brown rice and peas, naan on the side.
The sauce was so good I could have drank it! Jameson liked it a lot so I'll be making it again.


We left the patio door open to enjoy the cool air for as long as we could before going to bed.

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Not a lot on the docket for coming days...I've still got the to-do list but am also not sure if my hat shop boss will continue to schedule me, or decide to cut me loose early. I've got a massage on Friday and of course continued tour prep.

Sunday's hat: the buffalo hat!! There was only one left so I snatched it and wore it all night. Not excited AT ALL.


Sales were abysmal because it rained for the entire night. It's supposed to rain from now until Milton hits.

Monday. Jameson's alarm went off at 8 because he's got Jollywood rehearsals in the mornings all week. He's very excited and nervous :) I'm happy for him and sorry that he's got to kick it off with a cold.
I'm feeling better...I have steps that I take when I think a virus is after me. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but this time it seems to have worked temporarily.

Monday was a day off for me but I have so much to do that it didn't feel like one. It was 72 degrees out which was a blessing. I savored the feeling of "chilly air" on my skin as I brought the bananas inside. Then:

- Laundry
- Running the dishwasher
- Subsequent folding of laundry and putting away of dishes
- Planning dinner
- Breakfast and two hours of transcription
- Lunch and to the grocery for dinner ingredients

Since this hurricane is now a Cat 5 I used that as a psychological excuse to drive all the way to Whole Paycheck and get some of my favorite treats. They have a new flavor of Koia: matcha latte! Maybe it's dumb to buy perishable stuff right before a storm like this, but oh well.

Back home I decided to once again skip practicing so I could focus on transcription and prepping dinner. I made Chicago dog salad: pretty much all the toppings on a Chicago dog but mixed together in a big bowl with romaine and coleslaw mix, like a salad. Then I cooked the hot dogs in slices and mixed them in too. Instead of buns we sometimes use russet potato skins, which I roast in the oven with celery salt and black pepper. Turned out very good.

Jameson got home and immediately had to do his online teaching work, so I delayed dinner and did more transcription.
After dinner we discussed what to do about the hurricane.


The tough thing is that it's a Cat 5 now, but it's "probably going to" weaken to a Cat 3 by landfall. Probably.
We agreed we'll have to wait and see what happens with the forecast.
If it looks like it's going to hit as a Cat 4 or 5, we'll throw some things in our cars (we decided to drive separately to have double vehicles and double gas and more room for stuff) and GTFO. We'd aim for North Carolina; my aunt lives there and I have good friends there who would take us in. Jameson's brother lives in Georgia, but he has kids and also didn't offer to host us.

Right now, though, we're not planning to evacuate. We've stocked up on food and snacks, water and toilet paper. We're charging our battery packs, bringing anything loose on the deck into the garage, and filling our tanks with gas (I forgot to get gas so will have to do it tomorrow morning.) We're packing small "flee-bags" in case we can't take our time packing.

...I think that's all we can do.
Meanwhile, I still have to work at the hat shop tomorrow.

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Tuesday morning I was up early to go get gas, and was glad I did.
There is a run on gas stations even here in Orlando. I had to queue up, which I've never had to do around here, and wait my turn to top off my tank. But now it's done and one less thing to worry about.

Jameson had rehearsal again this morning, and as he was leaving we conferred again about whether we need anything and what needs doing. The main thing today is picking up anything we think we will need + moving stuff from the deck to the garage.

We shared the first ripe home-grown banana as well. It's so cute! Very sweet, sweeter than store-bought, and the texture is a little more...dense, I guess? But it was quite delicious and definitely a success. Hooray, after 3+ years of cultivating I've successfully grown bananas!!!


They are ripening extremely quickly, so we will just have to eat them as little snacks and I'll freeze some if we don't lose power.


After Jameson left I moved my plants and the outdoor furniture cushions to the garage, and pushed the wicker furniture up against the wall instead of the screens. It took all of 10 minutes.

I drove to CVS for quick oats and candy corn and two extra jugs of water "just in case."
Not necessities at this point but oats can conveniently be eaten just by soaking in water, and you can never have too much water around anyway. It was chaos out there. The CVS was out of propane, gas stations were running out of gas.

Back home I checked our battery supplies, packed my dinner for work, and dusted.
Practiced some of the Disney Christmas music, then finished my transcription job although it took forever because I was constantly interrupted by alerts, texts, calls, and messages from family, friends, the government, and workplaces about the hurricane. I am grateful that there are people concerned for our wellbeing!

But the result was that I felt very scatterbrained and flustered for most of the day, like I should be doing something but kept getting pulled away to receive updates or reassure loved ones.


In fact, I was so flustered today that I forgot it was the anniversary of my dad's death (this also means that my mom's death anniversary is tomorrow.) But my sister Kate remembered. And she sent me a beautiful, thoughtful package which arrived today:


She and our stepmom were able to have a lovely fall outing recently, plus it was the Bloomsburg Fair, and she wanted me to have a taste of our traditional autumn in Central Pennsylvania :)

This is
- decorative squash and corn
- A fresh apple from Rohrbach's Orchard
- Buckwheat honey and apple butter made locally
- Caramel apple and whoopie pie from Rohrbach's
- Apple pie filling made and canned by my stepmom
- A painted wooden decoration from my nephew Declan <3
- Honey sticks and a Cow Tale candy
- Hard ginger candies, which they know I love
- Roasting chestnuts (I've never roasted chestnuts before!!)
- Cloves (the container has holes in it, so this is meant to be for scenting the room)

In addition, several big sheets of locally-made beef and venison jerky from the Bloomsburg Fair!!
I've already eaten some and it's fantastic. Nothing beats homemade.


There was also a large Ziplock full of leaves, acorns, and nut shells, direct from trees in our hometown.
I was so incredibly touched by this. I mean...it really IS my hometown's autumn, in a box!


When I was still a toddler, my mother and I would go for walks and collect all sorts of little nature-things.
In the fall we'd find pretty leaves, and press them between the pages of books.

As soon as I saw the leaves from my sister, I remembered something.


This is a book I've had since before I could read.
And my mom and I used it to press leaves.

That's right...this leaf was pressed in 1987.


I texted my sister, told her about the book, and sent her pictures of me adding her new leaves to the book.
Alongside our mother's leaves, pressed so long ago.
Doing this today, on the day my dad died and a day before my mom died.
On the day before we're hit with a hurricane.

I will remember this.



And then it was time for work.

Today's hat:


We recently got these knitted cloches in, and I was very interested in this deep teal color. Lucky me, my shirt matches almost perfectly! Not that anyone noticed or cared. The few customers that we did have seemed more interested in Disney's hurricane prep than in hats. Interestingly (and perhaps reassuringly) most people in the Springs were refugees from Tampa. This means that people believe it's safer here; that they can ride out the storm here.

I hope they're right.

We closed the store 1/2 hour early.

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Wednesday I was up early to review and send my transcription job. I'm very pleased to find fewer and fewer errors with each job I submit.

Turned it in nice and early and alerted my supervisors that I might be unreachable in coming days.

In order to keep this post short, and have it up before we lose power, I think I'll end it here.
This week, because of the hurricane, I'll do some "Live From The Shit Show" posts, so that I can just update whenever I have power and also not have one long gigantic post that no one will read because no one reads any more.

Here we go. Stay safe y'all!

If I am not engaging with your posts at the usual levels it's because this week is crazy for Jameson and I. There's yer disclaimer.

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I wanted to get up at 7 on Thursday to work on transcription, but was incredibly tired and ended up sleeping until 8:30. FOR SHAME.

Breakfast and right into transcription. Well, formatting came first.
Just the formatting--JUST the formatting!--took about two hours!

This is because I have no idea what I'm doing + I REALLY want to do a good job. For everything I did I ended up re-watching training videos, taking more notes, reviewing and reviewing. I also had to set up misc signatures and auto-inserted data, which right now is a pain but will save time later. I haven't done my shorthand hotkeys yet because I want to do a case without them first, but I can already see how they'll save time and am itching to add them.

You probably have no idea what I'm talking about.

Tomorrow I'll tackle the ACTUAL transcription and see how that goes.

After that I went to the tailor again because he'd screwed up the velcro placement on my pants. Then to Target for shampoo, then lunch, then mixing up the crab Rangoon filling. A little more transcription prep, an hour of trombone practice, and a short time for a rest and a snack before cooking dinner. Along with the Rangoon we had char siu chicken thighs and sugar snap peas. The chicken was very good, I only wish they could've been done in the air fryer for a more crispy exterior. The rangoon were "ok," for Chinese-American authenticity I'll need to A) use imitation crab next time and B) more cream cheese.

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Friday I managed to get up a little after 8 and had started transcription by 9:30 or so.

My pedal was not acting normally so I wasted probably 45 minutes troubleshooting and getting outside help with that. Then my case needed additional unexpected formatting, so another hour of watching training videos and applying the correct changes. Then I ended up deciding to program the hotkeys/shorthand after all, because I couldn't stand copy/pasting the speaker names over and over!

The result was after two hours, I had actually transcribed only five minutes of audio. Argh!
But it's ok, it's ooooook. There are always technical issues and troubleshooting early on, for any job. I feel very tense, but the truth is I have plenty of time, a whole week. Future transcriptions will go a lot faster because I'm taking extra time to learn now. I need to calm down about it and give myself grace/permission to go slow. Easier said than done.

I had to stop transcribing after lunch to practice trombone, pack dinner, and go to work. Before leaving I happened to glance outside and was devastated to see that the banana tree with the fruit had broken. GO FIGURE!!


You can see in the pic I've moved the support closer to the fruit...I don't know what else to do. I could cut them off but would have to hang them somewhere else and hope they ripen. In that case I think they may as well stay on the tree and suck up whatever nutrients they can.

Today's hat:


During my shift Keith, the trombonist whom I sub for on the Main Street Philharmonic, asked if I could do a rehearsal on Tuesday and then cover for him this coming Thursday. I was very excited for the work (and I'll get to play the Halloween music!! WOOOOO!!!) but I am also scheduled to work at the hat shop on both of those days.

This means on both Tuesday and Thursday, I'll have to be at the Magic Kingdom from 10am-5:30pm performing outdoors all day (yes it is still in the low 90s here), then rush over to Disney Springs to clock in at the hat shop by 6pm and work until midnight. It's going to suck.

This also means I'd better be finished with transcription by Tuesday.

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Jameson went to Mickey's Not So Scary last night. He and friends dressed up as the Fairy Godmothers from Disney's Sleeping Beauty! Look how frickin' cute they are!


He got back after the midnight fireworks show and wasn't in bed until 2am, so I hardly got any sleep.
HOWEVER he brought home two absolutely massive bags of candy, so I couldn't possibly be upset :p


I'm so anxious about transcription that I was up at 7:30, and after breakfast (and yeah a mini Milky Way) I got right down to it.

Pros: my pedal worked; I got most of the actual transcribing done; I learned a lot during the process.
Cons: I ran into a lot of formatting issues that I don't understand; it's the weekend so no one is available to help; it literally took me all day, from 8:30am to 5pm, to get 90% of the way through this one hour of audio.

Since I have questions that need to be answered before I can submit my work, I won't be able to finish until Monday. I hate that it took me DAYS to process just one hour of transcription. I really, really hope that this is just a learning curve, and that things go a lot faster by leaps and bounds on future jobs.

And I'd love to feel less stressed about this. Normally transcription is enjoyable to me but there's too much going on.
I didn't have time to practice at all.

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Sunday I was up early again by necessity even though it's closing shift at the hat shop tonight.

After breakfast I finally actually FINISHED the transcription job. Phew!
After receiving some feedback and help, I was even able to submit it! I Should have waited another day and reviewed it more carefully, but I've already taken so long just to get through it that holding it for even one more day is abhorrent to me. I've got a really good idea of which parts are going to have a lot of errors. And also, if this is something that I want to take on tour there will be many times where I won't get to review as thoroughly as I'd like. So I'd better learn to do a better job up-front.

After that I got groceries, practiced my Disney music, packed dinner, and prepped some things for Tuesday.

Today's hat will have to wait until Monday since I'm closing tonight.

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Monday: A day off. Hopefully getting a review of my transcription job with corrections/errors to go over. Practicing for Disney, packing an all-day bag and meal planning for Tuesday. Resting as much as I can.

Tuesday: Disney rehearsal, hat shop.

Wednesday: A day off, I'll probably be dead on my feet but will need to practice and probably start another transcription job, among other things.

Thursday: Same as Tuesday.

You see, I am typing this on September 12th.
We are already nearly halfway through September.

Got up at 6:30am on Thursday, did NOT want to be up that early but life is life.

Did about 1.5 transcription modules, had breakfast, did another 30 minutes until it was time to get ready for work.

Today's hat:


A leather flat cap, handmade in Belgium and selling for around $130.
It's the only flat cap in the shop that looks "ok" on me. I am eating lunch super fast because I was offered a paid 15 in place of an unpaid 30, and took it (money is money.)

It was a very slow shift, I sold what I could but most people were just coming in to kill time before their meal reservations.
At 4pm I clocked out and drove 10 minutes to Epcot.

The Food and Wine Festival is going on right now, so there is Remy and Ratatouille decor everywhere.


( Night at Epcot )
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Friday, I got up at 8 to get as much done as possible before my hat shop shift.
Something I ate or drank last night did not agree with me; I didn't feel nauseous but (TMI WARNING)            my body definitely wanted something to get out, ASAP. I suspect the kabob or the carrot salad, it's hard to believe the drinks would've had anything to do with it.

Anyway, those "interruptions" messed up my timeline a bit, but I still did an hour of transcription training, washed our sheets and made the bed, practiced the first act of Elf, and packed myself dinner. I felt exhausted but also know that tomorrow is a day off and maybe I can allow myself to rest a little extra.

Today's hat:


As soon as I walked in Rin, the quietest retail worker I have ever worked with, jumped in front of me in a full-on goth red-and-black getup, 13s painted under her eyes, flapping her arms excitedly. "HAPPY FRIDAY THE 13TH!" she said. Oh! I hadn't realized...but I'd conveniently worn red and grey with black shoes, so thought, why not do a novelty hat to celebrate!

The day started out unfortunately slow but picked up after 8pm thankfully.
And I had a wonderful surprise!

As I finished checking a customer out, a woman came up to the register and said something like, "I hope this isn't weird but...I'm bringing you a part of your digital life, in person!"

It was brittdreams from DreamWidth!!! She lives nearby and happened to be at Disney Springs, and thought she'd drop in to see if I was working!! AAAAAAAH this was such a treat! I've only ever met my LJ and DW friends a few times in person, but each one of them has been absolutely wonderful. And I admire brittdreams SO MUCH. Like most of us on these blogging sites, she writes about her work and her general life, outings and travels and day-to-day. But in doing so, she shares a deeper look at the challenges that she, specifically, faces, as a black woman. Reading her blog has revealed to me many areas where I've been blind to my entitlements...or rather, society's built-in entitlements. That aside, she also works damn hard at everything she does, and shares her travel adventures (especially what she gets to eat!), and all of this means that I look forward to her posts and root for her endlessly on the interwebs :)

We chatted a bit, as much as we could; the store was kinda busy and she had to get home. But we got to meet in person!! Really made my day!

Before I knew it the shift was over. And back home, Jameson had two pieces of amazing news!

1 - His masters degree arrived in the mail! He's going to get it framed :)

2- While he was holding his degree and pondering what opportunities he could now apply for with it, his phone rang. It was Carnival Cruises, inviting him to interview with them for a music production position!!! He applied for this job over a month ago, really wanted it, and was elated to finally hear back from them today!! I am SO EXCITED for him!!

Of course, we have both had bad luck and let-downs when it comes to exciting interviews/auditions, so my excitement and hope are tempered with bracing myself for the aftermath if he gets rejected. But at least he's got an interview and a chance. This job would take him to Miami, either a few days a week or we'd have to move there (we need more details.) This is actually a factor in our favor, because being touring musicians with no children or pets, we are more flexible than most when it comes to relocating. But again, we need to wait and see.

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Saturday, I was up at 8 to type this post and harvest my jalapenos.


I'm making cowboy candy! It's just jalapenos boiled in sugar and spices, and it tastes fantastic as a topping for eggs, sandwiches, etc. Think spicy pepper jam. Good stuff.

In firefly petunia news, one of my cuttings (the smallest one, that I started out in a dish of water) has survived and is now growing exponentially!! I will repot it before going on tour, and would like to give it as a gift to my Aunt. She has always been so supportive of me, and I'd love for her to have my first cutting from this rare plant.


It glows very nicely, though being so small it's hard to get my camera to focus on it :p


When Jameson went to the gym I worked on transcription modules, then hit the grocery before lunch.
After lunch I practiced and then made the cowboy candy.

Sugar, apple cider vinegar, chili powder, garlic, celery seed, turmeric, and ginger.


The sliced jalapenos and garlic are added to the slightly thickened syrup.


The finished jars. I'm not water canning them, so they'll go in the fridge and last a month or so. We are supposed to wait a week before eating them, to let the flavors mingle. Yum!


Cleaned up after that, vacuumed and mopped the floors, and chilled for an hour. I ended up doing more transcription modules after dinner. I'm now more than halfway done.

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Sunday...I was up at 8 because there's so much to do :(
Would really like to sleep in one of these days and have eight hours of sleep.

The firefly petunia (the main plant) was the brightest I've ever seen it last night.
I had to put it on the floor so I could sleep!




This is the most blooms it's ever had too. I'm trying to enjoy it as much as possible because once I go on tour it will probably have to live outside, it will not be getting full care, and I expect it to either die off or die completely. In fact tomorrow I'm probably taking another cutting, since I've promised the first one to my aunt.

Anyway I won't bore you with the rest of my day. In summary: typing this post, doing transcription modules, going out to get printer ink, installing said printer ink, getting cheap sushi for dinner, practicing Main Street Philharmonic stuff, and going to work the closing shift at the hat shop. "Today's hat" will appear in the next post since I have to post this before work tonight.

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Monday: A day off. I need to catch up on cleaning, take a petunia cutting, and other chores.

Tuesday: Hoping to take my transcription tests + closing shift at the hat shop.

Weds & Thurs: Days off. Jameson's Carnival Cruise interview. I might pick up some Papa Pals, and I plan to possibly make a batch of caramels and send them out just so I can check it off my To-Do list. Definitely making dinner one of those nights. And definitely expect to be taking the transcription onboarding tests by then.

The firefly petunia was glowing mainly from the leaves and stems last night. I like when it does that :)


Jameson told me all about his haunted house adventures when he got home (around 2am, good GRIEF, he's a night owl for sure!) and said the Insidious house was amazing. Also that he didn't have to wait more than 50 minutes for any of the houses, meaning next time we need to make sure we don't book our trip on a holiday weekend. He and I were only able to see three haunted houses because of the crowds; by contrast he and his friends were able to see seven houses plus a stage show last night. Jealous!

Despite being awoken at 2am I was up at 8am for breakfast. It had rained hard last night so I took the opportunity to fertilize the bananas while the soil was still wet. They are looking good, though they may be ready to harvest while I'm on tour!


The second tree also has a banana flower now!! But I suspect it's coming too late in the year to bear fruit. We'll see.


The rest of the day was a day off. I hope that doesn't make me lazy.
I worked on Foodie Finds, watched anime, wrote a letter to my grandma, received a mute from a friend who's letting me borrow it, ate snacks, and generally WAS lazy. Working at the hat shop is not difficult, but it is 5-7 hours of standing and moving around and, well, WORK after all. For dinner I made us Dude Diet Cheeseburger Fusilli which we've enjoyed many times before.

Before bed I received onboarding paperwork for Elf. Once that's processed I'll get an official contract. Eeeeee!

Near the end of the onboarding paperwork was the question, "Is there anything else that you'd like tour management to know?"
I said, "I am willing to make and eat Buddy the Elf's Breakfast Spaghetti."

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Friday, I slept poorly again. Latent tension or anxiety I'm sure.

Jameson got his official offer and schedule for Jollywood Nights. The event is being extended an extra week this year which is great, more money for him and more enjoyment for guests.

I got my official Elf contract offer and payroll setup paperwork, and filled them out right away.
It's official. Looks like we both have our holiday gigs lined up!
Here are the cities for Elf on Tour. You can see dates and get tickets HERE.


The week of Thanksgiving Elf happens to be in Milwaukee, which is very close to Jameson's parents. He's hoping to fly up to visit, and then we can all be together and they can see the show. That would be awesome, I really hope it works out!

Then came the cringey task of letting Main Street Philharmonic and Candlelight know that I'm no longer available for Nov/Dec. I feel bad about it, but if all they're able to offer me is substitute work (as opposed to actual scheduled performance dates,) I'm sorry but I can't just wait around hoping for calls from Disney that may never come. Hopefully they can understand that.

And in October I will give two weeks notice at the hat shop. Thankfully none of those people follow or check my social media (to my knowledge) so I should be able to share the news online without serious consequences.

Anyway. Spent the morning filling out the paperwork and contract. Jameson went to the gym and for a haircut, and I went to the bagel shop and to Skechers for lightweight black sneakers for tour. I'd meant to practice but air-tromboned instead.

Today's hat:


I hadn't planned to wear another cloche, but the sun hat I'd picked out wasn't right.
It turned out to be a good choice because just a few minutes into my shift a woman walked in, saw my hat, and immediately lost her absolute mind over it! She not only bought the hat I was wearing, but also two more Kathy Jeanne hats and FOUR hat boxes, for a total sale of $600. I was the hero of the shift lol.

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Saturday, I received an email from the transcription job that I've been approved to start training!
I'm very nervous about it, especially with the tour coming up, but am going to plow ahead and do my best. I could certainly use the money and the new skills set.

Disney's Candlelight coordinator also got back to me, and said that if I want to remain on the call list despite my unavailability I need to attend at least one of the three overnight rehearsals. The only one I could possibly make would be on 11/25 because that's a travel day on the tour. And to make it I'd have to fly from Newark to Orlando, rehearse overnight from 6pm-3am, then basically go straight to the airport and fly to Milwaukee in time for the afternoon sound check and evening show. It's....a lot. I'll have to see if NETworks will be cool with it.

Things I did after breakfast: filled and sent transcription paperwork; practiced the 2nd act of Elf; dropped some pants off at the tailor for hemming; got wings and hot sauce for dinner. I'd meant to do more but the tailor took longer than expected. There's a lot to do before I go on tour such as cleaning, preparing my car for storage, prepping the plants for my absence, packing, learning the music of course, and gathering some Christmas presents in advance. Not to mention the hat shop, starting the transcription job, and maintaining my memorized Main Street Philharmonic music. There's plenty of time, but also two months can fly by quickly so I gotta stay on top of stuff.

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Sunday I had taken the day off from the hat shop because our friend Alan (a sound guy that we worked with on Ringling Bros) was doing a Queen tribute show in Melbourne and we wanted to meet up!

During the day I practiced my entire part for Elf, washed my trombone, and made us some air fryer bagels as a mid-meal snack.

We found the recipe on TikTok but it's pretty simple:

   - Slice a bagel like you would a pie, in eight chunks/"slices", making sure NOT to cut all the way through the bottom.
   - Fill the cuts with cream cheese of your choice.
   - Brush with a butter glaze.
   - Air fryer at 400°F/204°C for 8 minutes.
   - Let cool a bit and enjoy!

Here's a plain bagel with garlic herb cream cheese and parmesan butter brush, before and after air frying.
(We also brushed it with butter again after I took this pic.)


And here's a cinnamon raisin bagel with honey cinnamon cream cheese and a cinnamon sugar butter brush.


Both were fantastic! Different than toasted bagels because they were more crisp on the outside, the cheese got crisped on the outside too, and the insides of the bagel were soft and saturated with liquid and flavor from the butter and cream cheese. This was super easy to do. I can think of many other great combos like chocolate chip bagel and strawberry cream cheese; blueberry bagel and lemon or strawberry cream cheese: cheddar jalapeno bagel with chipotle or BBQ cream cheese. Etc etc.

We drove the 1.5 hours to Melbourne and retrieved Alan for dinner at a burrito place together. He seems to be doing well, in fact has hardly changed at all since we last saw him seven years ago! I don't have a pic but Jameson took one (he's asleep as I type this) so may post one later. We got caught up on our doings. He's having fun with the Queen tour and says they're extremely popular in France.


After dinner he took us backstage to meet the Freddie Mercury impersonator, who turned out to be an older Scottish dude with a VERY thick accent and a fantastically crass sense of humor! He and Jameson yapped it up, swapping stories about the time they met Brian May or the time they've performed Queen's works. It was clear they'd hit it off, and later Alan sent the guy's contact info so they'll be able to geek out even more haha.

This was the tribute band's last show and it ended up being a great audience despite Melbourne having sort of an "older demographic." Lots of standing up to dance and cheer just like at a rock concert :) Jameson is a Queen superfan so I was worried he wouldn't like them, but he had loads of good things to say (some critiques, of course, but he said he was nitpicking.) I'm not a Queen superfan, but could tell that the impersonator had put LOADS of research and effort into emulating Freddie Mercury. He was very impressive, and the band sounded great.

Afterward it was load out for Alan, so we waited a bit while he packed his equipment and then went outside to hug goodbye. It was very cool of Alan to take us backstage, get us tickets to the show, and spend time with us! Glad we got to see him again :)

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I completely forgot to post this blog before the concert last night, so am speed-typing the last bits this morning.
Our pool solar heater broke last week, and the pool guys came to look at it this morning while Jameson was sleeping, and said they didn't have the right part (I swear he took and sent a picture of the exact part -_-) They'll try again next week.

Today: practice, starting transcription training, calling NETworks to see if I can go to that Disney rehearsal, making dinner, Jameson has a rehearsal for a Hooligans gig at Epcot.

Tuesday + Wednesday: Hat shop shifts. I'll also practice, and will probably have more transcription training.

Thursday: Another day off, not sure what will happen.