goofball on a train

Up on Thursday with the knowledge that things are moving ahead with the Universal job opportunity.

All it means at time of this writing is that I've got orientation on Friday, it's 9 hours long and no idea what it will entail. So I'll dress nice-casual and pack a lunch and have my trombone in the trunk? Idk. Maybe by the end of that day we'll have actual job offers.

Meanwhile I've got transcription to do. Ate breakfast and worked on it, chatted with Jameson, planned to make enchiladas for dinner. Finished this messed-up transcription project and sent it in hoping I'd done everything right (it's a new scenario for me, getting broken audio.) Went to the dentist, got ingredients for dinner, made the enchiladas.

Nice, normal night.

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Up early to enjoy "me time" before Universal orientation. Did I mention that this orientation is optional? Yeah, so weird. I suppose because it was so last-minute, and because they haven't actually given anyone an offer yet? I hadn't made plans for today anyway.

It was a long day.
(IMPORTANT: I've signed an NDA with Universal. I will not be sharing any unreleased or confidential details about the new park, sorry :/ But there are still exciting details here if you're a theme park fan!)

( Universal Orientation! )

I drove home and told Jameson everything. He’s very excited and happy for me, as you may imagine! I feel guilty to have such good windfalls while he is struggling. But also, I'm not an idiot. I know that we are all dealt different hands in life at different times. And when you have a good hand, you play it.

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Saturday, I got a new transcription job and was up early to work on it knowing that my time will be limited next week.

In the afternoon I took a break to sweep the pool deck and move our furniture to the garage in preparation for pressure washing on Sunday. Then lunch and practicing bass trombone for a bit before returning to transcription (I won't get this project done before rehearsals start but need to do as much as I can.)

Jameson had a day off plus he can't do much with his arm yet, so he watched the classic Batman movies and relaxed.

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Sunday, up early and worked at transcription until the pressure washer showed up. He's done our pool deck before so I knew what to expect. While he worked I ate breakfast and continued transcription. He finished up around 11am, and did a great job.

Before and after of the whole pool deck. Notice the dark rust spots are gone in the second photo.


Before and after of the area around the pool.


When he'd left I moved all of the furniture back to the pool deck, had lunch, and went out to get ingredients for dinner. A few more hours of transcription and I didn't quite finish where I'd wanted to, but it's better than nothing. Since I'll be in full time rehearsals all week now, that means anything I didn't finish today will have to be done either VERY early in the morning, or at night after the workday.

Dinner was a pork tenderloin I found in the freezer, cooked with apples and onions and thyme and a mustard rub, with roasted potatoes and brussels on the side. It feels nice to cook again.

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Monday: First day of Epic Universe rehearsals! And, you know...transcription.

Tuesday through Thursday: Rehearsals every day, transcription, and whatever else I have energy for.

I dragged myself out of bed at 5 AM, wishing I could sleep for another four hours. But quickly found motivation at the thought of the enjoyable drive ahead, picking up my repaired bass trombone, and seeing Jameson again.

I love driving, and I especially love getting up early and starting a drive before the sun is up, while traffic is light. There is something magical and special about it. And I am one of those people that finds long distance driving to be generally relaxing. The cost of the rental car and the time expenditure is well worth the enjoyment of the drive.

For the first two hours I drove and listened to public radio talk about Jimmy Carter’s legacy and sipped my cold canned coffee. I introspected quietly about the end of this Elf tour, Jameson’s surgery tomorrow, and the busy first week of the new year. Around 7 AM I cracked open my overnight oats, yogurt, and blackberries, and ate breakfast. Fueled up and a bathroom break before lunch, then my aunt called and we had a great conversation that made 40 minutes seem to fly by.

I reached Bill's (trombone repair guy's) house around 1:30pm. The trombone is playable, yay! The bell looks aesthetically a mess, but I don't care about that...in fact it makes me laugh a bit, an inside joke that I'll have to share later.

The strange pattern comes from having to reshape the bell after it was crushed. The brass was lacquered, and what you are seeing is the darker spots where lacquer remains, and the pale spots where the raw brass is exposed after being rolled out.
Before and after:


The triggers, rotors and slide are all just fine, and the slide is so good that Bill suspects Minick worked on that as well. That may be so, but I am spoiled; compared to my dear Williams trombone, all other trombone slides feel clunky and rough. But it is just fine and will do the job nicely. Overall I'm very happy with it and excited to get started on it (still need a mouthpiece and some lessons.)

The Minick trigger and rotor work. I know you can't tell but trust me when I say that this is ergonomic and comfortable haha


A little history of my horn. The King Duo Gravis is well known to be a good “commercial” or “all-around” bass trombone, which makes it excellent for the type of playing that I do. (However upon later research, I think the horn can be dated to the 70s, not the 60s.)


Additionally, in an act of SUPREME and undeserved generosity, Bill offered me his Tank trombone case!!!


There are very few bass trombone cases that can handle being thrown under a plane, and this is one of them. It's got an aluminum and heavy plastic shell, and inside is dense foam that suspends the trombone so it's protected from impacts. This case is made for a tenor, but since it's foam-filled we thought a bass might fit. It sort-of did, although it's VERY tight and I'm going to have to see if the foam can be cut down to make room for the larger bell.

After thanking Bill profusely I hit the road again, stopping at Publix for groceries and going home to dump everything. Jameson followed me to the car rental place, I returned the car and he drove me home. From there we ordered dinner, I did laundry and unpacked, we watched a bit of TV, I cleaned up the guest bedroom in case I end up sleeping there while Jameson recovers, and cleaned the bathrooms. Jameson is very nervous about his surgery, naturally, but hopefully it will go quickly and smoothly and he can have some time to relax over the holiday.

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I was up before Jameson, which is normal. Breakfast and quiet time mostly.

When he was up and around we got ready and drove to the hand surgery place. Waited probably an hour past his arrival time, which isn’t bad. They got him all prepped and when he was ready, let me sit with him and keep him company.


We chatted about empty crap…both of us nervous, and waiting is the hardest part. Finally after what seemed like forever they kicked me out to give him the anesthesia. I camped out in the lobby with some granola to wait. Two hours later:


He was still kinda waking up, and in some mild pain, but alive and kicking. I helped him to dress and got help wheeling him out to the car. We went to Walgreens first to fill his prescription, then Taco Bell because he was ravenous. I cleaned a bit while he rested.

Later on I took my own car out to pick up the prescription, and smelled something horrible. And then I noticed DROPPINGS on my back seat, and some sort of brown debris that turned out to be acorn shells. Ugh...while my car had sat unused, a mouse had moved in! And this is probably why my climate control is broken. When the car is still, I don't smell anything. When it's moving, death-smell quickly comes in...through the air vents. One plus one equals two. I looked under the hood for quite a while and found more droppings and acorn remains, but couldn't find the actual dead mouse. I can smell it near the front of the engine. Was hoping to fish it out so the garage at least wouldn't have to do that, but if I can't find it tomorrow it'll be up to them. At least the mouse was courteous enough to NOT die inside the actual car.

We spent the evening watching LEGO Masters Christmas Edition, eating Chick-fil-a and Christmas cookies, and chilling out. Before bed I remembered to uncap all of Jameson's medications (since he only has one working arm right now) and told him that if he needed anything during the night he should come get me. I slept in the guest bedroom so that if he couldn't sleep he could feel free to watch TV and such. The vacation rental house next door was full of New Years Eve revelers singing bad karaoke at the top of their lungs and setting off fireworks, from about 5pm onward. It was very obnoxious, but it's only one night a year plus we have all day tomorrow to rest.

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I must have been very tired because I did not wake up until my alarm went off at 8am.

Breakfast, and as soon as Jameson was up I dusted, vacuumed, and washed the guest bedroom sheets (they haven't been washed since Jameson's dad stayed over.) I also inspected the Tank trombone case and unfortunately it will not work for the bass; the foam around the bell is already very thin, so what's pressing on the bell is the case shell, and that's no good. It was worth a try, though. I'll return the case in a few weeks, along with some homemade caramels as a thanks. Bill was also able to find another excellent travel case for bass trombone, which will set me back $500 but will protect my instrument.

After lunch Jameson went back to bed, watching TV and dozing on and off. He's in mild pain and discomfort but nothing crazy thankfully. I swept the front sidewalk, dug through some of my things to make a "shred this" pile and a "donate this" pile, made a general to-do list for coming days, then also allowed myself to rest (lazy Millennial.) Later on we watched Deadpool and Wolverine, I packed myself breakfast for the car dealership, and we opened the back porch screen to let in the cool night air.

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Thursday: 80-minute round trip drive to the dealership to fix my climate control and locate/remove dead mouse. I've got the earliest appointment, but this could still take all day.

Friday: 90-minute round trip drive to Warburton for a bass trombone mouthpiece. My friend Kim (trumpet) will be there so she'll certainly want to visit, and she's also got baby bunnies....so this may take a while haha. Afterward, taking my coat to dry cleaning and possibly visiting a bank to offload some savings bonds.

Saturday: Any errands that I need to do + trombone practice + the free acting/movement clinic in preparation for auditioning for Universal.

Sunday: Universal audition. Starting up transcription again. Starting bass trombone practice.

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.

Starting this one off with a bit of TMI (it's not that bad but if reading about birth control pills makes you uncomfortable, scroll past the dotted lines:

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I woke with a start this morning, realizing that I haven't taken ANY birth control pills since coming to Greensboro!!!
This is unheard of for me, in fact it's never happened in the 10+ years that I've been on the pill. I've forgotten single days before, a few times, but never multiple days in a row. Am I really THAT distracted lately? Surprised at myself, I took two this morning and will take two tomorrow and that will have me caught up. But it was a disconcerting thing to realize, and it's going to cause some distracting symptoms (usually spotting, bloating, weird emotions for a while)

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Thursday was breakfast, giving my trombone a bath, and enjoying one gloriously transcription-free day. I like transcription, but having jobs sent back-to-back means not a single day without it, and right now I could use a small break. Watched a little Business Insider (they have really cool educational videos on YouTube) and halfheartedly poked at some job applications.

I shared this in a Friends Only post recently: Jameson and I both experienced pretty crushing job application rejections this week. His was for a job where he had internal references and was well qualified...and he got a rejection letter within days of applying. Not even an offer of an interview.
Mine was an audition, and the rejection came very publicly in the form of a new audition notice...for the same gig...posted after I sent my materials...specifically asking for female trombonists to apply. Meaning I'm now being tagged by fellow trombonists in the comments of the listing, because I'm essentially The Only Professional Female Trombonist In Orlando, so to a lot of people I'm the obvious choice.

This has left me with the humiliating task of having to publicly respond to the tags with, "Sorry...I've already applied, so I think they must be looking for someone else..."

Anyway, I had a calm and quiet morning regardless, and was grateful for it.
For lunch I joined Todd (trumpet) and Kenny (Reed 1) for the Chinese Buffet next to our hotel. Americanized Chinese is one of my favorites! We had a nice convo and decent meal. Afterward I walked to the thrift store a little over a mile away, didn't really find anything, but there was an Asian grocery just a block over!

( Asian Grocery )

When I'd had my fun I got back to the hotel and started to rest, but then received a transcription review from my supervisors/a proofreader. It was quite long, with lots of corrections, which made me feel inadequate (i.e. BUTTHURT.) But I am glad that I've held that last transcription job back, because now I can apply these corrections to that job before submitting it. I read as many corrections as I could before it was showtime, but will have to spend part of Friday really diving in and giving it my full attention.

The show went "okay," I could have done better.

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Friday, after breakfast I really buckled down on the transcription review. No matter how butthurt I feel that my work wasn't "perfect," the only way it's going to get better is if I set that aside and apply the corrections.

To my surprise, shortly after sending an email thanking my boss and the proofer for their corrections, I got another email from them praising me for having great verbatim/formatting skills and offering me the chance to complete "urgent jobs," which pay twice as much as normal jobs but must be turned around very quickly. I said yes to the urgent jobs, but also that I could only accept them starting in the new year after I'm done touring.

Yay! This definitely helped my mood.

After that I practiced my Disney stuff (brought trombone back to the hotel again) and ate lunch, then went for a walk through the residential behind the hotel. About that time Jameson messaged to say his surgery will be on New Year's Eve. Good lord. That means I'm going to come back from tour and immediately the next day he's got surgery. Ugh, well...I understand that he wants to get it over with, and I of course want to be there when it happens. But I would've liked to unpack first!!!

The evening show was fine except the MIDI crashed (all of our sound effects.) The drummer got to cover a few doorbell/elevator sounds, and there were some voiceovers, but it was fixed 30 minutes into the show.

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Friday, I did laundry again and started transcription. We had two shows at 2pm and 8pm.

When I got to the theater I was surprised to see the kids (actor kids) waiting for me. They handed me this nerf gun with instructions to “Shoot C (drummer) on sight!” Well okay!


And who came up the stairs just then but C! Who also had a “gun!” We had a raging nerf battle and before I knew it actors with nerf guns had joined in, foam bullets flying everywhere and theater employees running akimbo through the crossfire. It was great fun :)

My aunt came to this show so I had to call a truce in the firefight so I could go hug her. She looks good! After the show we went for chicken and waffles at a local place. It had really good reviews and the flavors were good, but unfortunately our food came out cold. Still, we caught up a little bit on each others’ lives. I would’ve liked several days with her, but we take what we can get.


Afterward they dropped me off at the theater with a box of cookies from my sister Raven, and a card hand-painted by my aunt!


I am so grateful for my small but mighty family. My aunt is my favorite person in the world, and I was so happy to see her today :)

The 8pm show was all right...we have a trumpet player who is struggling right now so musically it wasn't great. But maybe tomorrow will be better.

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Sunday I was up at 6:30am, for an hour of "me time" and breakfast before starting transcription. The deadline isn't until next Saturday but if I get it done quickly I can enjoy a bit of Indianapolis.

I took a Lyft to Deep Roots Market, which is just down the block from the theater, and picked up some prepackaged tuna and a salad for lunch and dinner (only $9 for both meals + bringing snacks from the hotel.) Our 2pm show went just fine.

Between shows I stayed at the theater since I have my own dressing room, and plugged away at transcription some more with a hot cup of ginger tea. By dinnertime I was pleased to have completed two of my three audio hours, which is very good progress. The evening show was fine...unfortunately not better than previous shows, so I guess we musicians are going to be crawling across the figurative finish line for these last two weeks of tour. Whatever, I can only do MY best on MY music; I can't control what others do or do not invest in putting on a good show.

After the show and while waiting for my carpool, I signed our wall tag (yes, we FINALLY got one!)
It is a very beautiful wall tag, too!

Photo:


Video showing more details is HERE.

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Monday: Travel day to Indianapolis, groceries, transcription.

Tuesday & Wednesday: More transcription and probably laundry.

Thursday & Friday: Maybe I'll have time to explore!

The opening night show went well. The band had one snafu that almost derailed us, but we hung on and kept going and made it without crashing. It's during a dance number so if we mess up, it's bad for everyone on stage too. I'm sure it'll get worked out....

I should backtrack. Before the show started as audience members were filtering in, I popped out of the pit to go backstage (the pit entrance is through the audience here.) To my surprise my internet friend Ryan appeared out of the crowd! He's someone I've known since my circus days, and though I can't recall exactly how we met (his social pages are sparse) we've been friends online for many years. He'd come to see the show, and brought me a block of locally-made maple walnut fudge! How awesome!

I'm going to cut and wrap pieces to share with the band :)


During intermission our MD wanted a group photo, so here we all are!
I got cut out of the first attempt, so they insisted I get closer, so now I'm TOO CLOSE and became a lurker lmao


My friend Ryan came down to the pit while we were doing the Exit Music, and took a picture of me! Evidence that I work here, y'all!
I look like I'm about to cry lol. Sometimes you make the weirdest faces while playing :p


After that we all packed up and went over to Firebird Tavern for the opening night party. It was simple, no decorations or fancy cake or "swag bags," but there was lots of really good food and an open bar.

Gonna be honest, I went straight to the bar and slammed down a glass of red wine. I feel like I've been tense and anxious ever since coming out here, there's no one here that I really know, the cast is overwhelmingly male, and then there was the election of essentially a person who views women as property, as breeding cattle, as something to be used and thrown away. Being surrounded by a sea of men at this particular time has not made me feel comfortable or reassured.

You get me?

So I initiated my buzz and spent the rest of the night trying to scream conversations at people over the raucous actors. Mostly I ended up with the MD, as he had questions for me about life on the circus and I wanted to know more about his international tour with The Sound of Music. When Sam (the Director) got up and waved goodbye without giving a speech, I took that as my cue to leave as well. It was a nice party, in general these seem like nice people to work with although in full honesty I feel like an outlier here. But I will make do, and hopefully this will just be a Fun Experience For Humans in the end.

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Thursday, breakfast and typing this up and finishing my transcription editing, submitting it.

A quick Jameson update: last night he told me that his hand, which he injured last year around this time while working Jollywood, has started hurting again in the same way :( He's doing his therapy exercises, but after a certain level of playing it seems to be not enough. He will be looking into surgery options again. Part of me wishes he wouldn't...I feel like, what if surgery only makes it worse? But he's an adult and I will voice my concerns and he will decide.

Walked to a Meijer to supplement groceries, and along the way saw many nice things in Detroit.



The rest of the day was uneventful. At showtime I got dressed and cut up the fudge to share with the guys. At the theatre I queued up at the production office to sign up for a seat on the next travel day bus. This is a thing that NETworks does and Troika doesn't, apparently. I'll still be sharing a seat; I just wanted one nearer the center of the bus to reduce motion sickness.

Found my dressing room on the 4th floor, which was surprisingly JUST FOR ME. Rarely do I get my own dressing room! But also, there was a swag bag in there! I'd expected to see these at the company party but I guess they distributed them this way instead.


Wandered and looked at wall tags until it was time to play the show.
It went well again, we had one Notion snafu again but I doubt the audience noticed.

Back at the hotel I decided to do laundry because I need to practice staying up later for the upcoming overnight Disney rehearsal. I also opened my swag bag and found an Elf laundry bag, and an Elf embroidered fleece sweater! How nice!


It is a little big on me, but I don't mind.


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Friday, we only had one show in the evening. I woke up to a new transcription job...in Punjabi! That should be fun!

I got to work on it right away and not surprisingly this case is going to take extra time. No more exploring for me here in Detroit.

For lunch I picked up a nice prosciutto + arugula + fig jam sandwich from a local Italian deli. Nothing else to report, I worked on transcription pretty much all day with just a few breaks for resting my eyes and stretching my legs. And I still barely made any headway :( But some cases will be like that, and if I keep plugging along it'll be all right.

The evening show went pretty well, we get better each time. Notion did not interfere with us today :p

Jameson had his final dress rehearsal for Jollywood tonight...the show premieres tomorrow!!! I'm so excited for him, and hope it all goes well! He says that Kermit the Frog has a special interaction with the band, and I hope to catch that when videos start popping up on YouTube.

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Saturday I was up early. We had three shows at 10, 3, and 8.
Feels just like the circus! It's been ages since I did a three-show day. Hope I can handle it!
They're even providing catering between shows for us, how nice!

Since I've somehow landed my very own dressing room here, I had a nice private space to work on my job between shows. After each show I went to the catering room to grab a plate of food, brought it here to eat, then got to work.


It still took forever because this judge is a spaz :p
By the time we got to the last show, I'd only gotten about 30 minutes of headway and had only just gotten to the actual cross-examination. But some progress is better than none.

Meanwhile Jameson was having opening night at Hollywood Studios/Jollywood, premiering the Disney Holidays in Hollywood show!
For now I've only got this picture from last year, but he's up there again on stage with the Muppets, Tiana, Belle, and more! The whole cast has been doing overnight rehearsals for the past four days in a row. Certainly everyone is exhausted, but this show is SO GOOD. I hope it was an awesome opening night for everyone involved!


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Sunday I woke up to a rainy day and swollen lips.

We had one more matinee. I ate breakfast and worked on transcription until lunchtime, then walked to that Italian deli again for a turkey sub (it was awesome.)

The afternoon show went well. One thing that I've noticed about Elf is that people are DRESSING UP for it! Parents and kids are showing up in Christmaswear like sparkly shirts, ugly sweaters, elf hats, string light necklaces, etc. It's really fun! I wish I could take a picture to show you but that's probably some invasion of privacy + there are quite a lot of kids in the audience who don't need their pics on the interwebs.

Speaking of kids, it's been really delightful having the pit ringed by children before the start of each show!
They love to exclaim over all the instruments and pelt us with questions, and it's cute how they get all shy when we answer back or ask them if they're having fun :) I don't like kids much but from a distance they can be all right ;)

After the show I packed up quickly so I could eat dinner and start on transcription.
I was disappointed that we were not offered a wall tag here, but that sometimes happens if there's no one artistic in the cast.

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By the time you read this I'll be on a bus on the way to Erie, PA.
We are only there for two days, then finish the week in Stamford, CT where my sister Raven is coming to a show with some friends.

I'm going to have to focus mostly on finishing this transcription job these next several days, but also need to get into a weekly practice routine.
Touring is not a vacation :p

10pm:
Right before bed, Jameson wanted to drain our pool one more time. By this time the wind was howling, the rain was sideways, and it was pretty dang scary outside. But we went out in it anyway, Jameson getting soaked as he engaged the pool pump.

Inground pools can overflow and flood your patio/house, so this was an important thing to do. We were dumping pool water into the yard, which isn't good, but it's better than the alternative.

When he was safely back inside we dried off (I'd gone out for moral support) and got in bed. We watched Midnight Mass as the wind howled outside, listening to debris hit the house and praying that the pool wouldn't flood us, the trees wouldn't fall, and a tornado wouldn't drop out of the sky onto our heads (This was a legitimate fear tonight. There were 20 confirmed tornado touchdowns.)

12:30am:
I was watching a power outage map. It turned redder and redder as the night went on.


Our county, Osceola, is the large pale green upside-down triangle there near the center. We were doing well.
We eventually fell asleep despite the storm.

Thursday 8:30am:
I woke up surprised at how quiet it was. Several times throughout the night I'd gotten up, from restlessness or to pee, and each time I made a quick round of the house to check that water hadn't come inside. I also checked the garage for water and for AC leaks, or "unwanted guests" in the form of reptiles or bugs that can slither inside. Everything was stable. The power was on.

I was up before Jameson, and went outside to assess damage.
We were incredibly lucky, I mean MIRACULOUSLY lucky.
(CLICK HERE to assess damage with me)

When I came back inside Jameson was up, and he did a circle of the house too.
We can't see how our roof is, but we think it's ok.
The only damage, then, is that I lost my second-largest banana tree that was starting to fruit (I'm not at all surprised or upset) and some of our grass may die off from all the chlorine water that was dumped on it.

And that's it.
We were INCREDULOUS to find we hadn't even lost any screens. That's absolutely unheard of. Losing screens is par for the course during a storm like this...ALL of our neighbors lost at least one. No idea how we were spared that. And my car is completely undamaged.

In other words, we lost absolutely nothing except maybe a day of work.

10:30am
Meanwhile, around 3 million people are without power this morning.
Every single friend I know in Florida, including people living minutes down the road from us, have lost power.
And the closer you get to the coasts the worse the damage is.
I have friends who can't go home right now because their neighborhoods are disaster areas, or their houses are flooded.
Wildly, in St. Lucie (a city located all the way across the state from where the hurricane hit, on the ATLANTIC coast) a tornado touched down and caused catastrophic damage, and death.

It was a hell of the storm, and damage is still being assessed.

11am:
I moved our patio furniture back, and put the plants back outside.
Responded to a lot of texts and messages from family and friends, and all of us FL people checking in on each other.
Ate breakfast and thought about how nice it was to have all of my food still edible.
Brushed my teeth and felt grateful for running water.
Practiced my Disney Christmas music, because we still have rehearsal tomorrow.

Disney Springs remains closed today, otherwise I’m sure I’d be asked to sell hats.


12:15pm:
My step-aunt called to tell me that her dad, my step-grandpa, has passed away.
He has been in declining health so it wasn’t a surprise, but I still find it incredibly odd that both my parents, and now a grandfather, have passed away during this same week in October. He lived in Georgia but died in Pennsylvania, so I’m not sure where or when the funeral will be or if I’ll be expected to attend. Questions for a later time.

1:30pm:
After lunch Jameson and I took a walk. Many couples were out doing the same, surveying damage or cleaning up their yards with rakes and leaf blowers. Damage throughout the neighborhood was minimal, so I didn’t take many pictures…we’ve all seen broken tree branches and storm debris, right? It's redundant.

Here is a house whose owners took the hurricane VERY seriously.


Here is our little lake, higher than I’ve ever seen it (but still nowhere near cresting.)


Otherwise it was a normal walk. We talked and tried not to slip on all the fallen acorns.

3pm:
Jameson got a call from Carnival, basically just to close out their interview process and confirm that he’s no longer interested in the job *at that pay rate.* I hope they’ll reach out again if/when they’re willing to afford him, or if a position with better pay opens up.

I heard from my boss at Main Street Philharmonic, we will have rehearsal tomorrow as planned. I’m grateful for some Mouse Money :p

The beat goes on.

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That's pretty much it.
We had a stressful night, wondering what would happen and whether we'd be safe as things crashed around outside. The wind was very scary. But ultimately, we rode it out so incredibly well.

I'm feeling emotionally drained, just because lack of sleep and worry over the hurricane, continuing to receive tour paperwork and rehearsal updates while going through a major weather event, and then having a relative pass away right after it was all over and in the same week that I'm remembering my mom and dad's deaths. It's just been...a lot. Like, I'm physically ok, and moving on with work and rehearsals and tour will probably be good. But for now I'm tired on a sort of spiritual level, and will have to investigate ways for replenishing that.

Thank you to everyone who checked in on us and looked out for us. We made it!

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And now, onward.

Friday: Disney rehearsal, probably making dinner for us, investigating ways to use all those mini-bananas (probably just banana bread.)

Saturday: The usual trombone practice, chores, or tour prep during the day, hat shop at night. Giving notice at the hat shop and we'll see how they take it. I decided to wait until they've made the new schedule so they'll be less inclined to just cut me lose with no further work.

Sunday: ???

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.

Thursday night we went out to see one of Jameson's friends perform his original music (classic rock style.)

It was at this dive bar/club, but it wasn't too crowded and the drinks were good.
Enjoyed listening to the band and catching up with an assortment of Jameson's buddies between sets.


---------------------------------------------------------

Friday I woke up too early, used the time to research what should come next for my firefly petunia.
I am very pleased with how it's bounced back from shipping. It's only been a month and it's twice as big and looks much improved.


However there are some dangly limbs with top-heavy new growth at the tips, which makes me think it might be time to try some cuttings. Here is one of the dangly limbs in question. Someone also suggested that I could bury the plant's main stem, bringing that limb down so it touches the soil and could produce roots there. 


I also noticed that this week is scheduled to be slightly cooler, and heat indexes are below 100°F for several days in a row, so I am thinking to start acclimating the plant to live outside. This would free up the grow lights for use with cuttings.

In addition to all of that, I have a developing seed pod!


The pod could take months to develop, and once it does there is no guarantee that the seeds will produce bioluminescent plants. Something about which genes get passed down or whatever; it's like a 50/50 chance of getting glowing babies. So I will probably just harvest the seeds for now and sort that out at a later date.

While Jameson went for a walk I practiced, packed food for work, made a grocery list, researched petunia stuff, and went to Target for some stuff. Oh, and sent my order for my custom Kathy Jeanne hat, making sure to get my boss in the loop and also suggest to the milliner that she experiment with attachment designs so we can do this proposal for an interchangeable trims product line. My boss wrote back today and said he's pitching the idea to corporate and the owner, so I'll be interested A) to see if they accept it and B) to see if he gives me any credit at all or takes it all himself. To be fair it IS his idea, he does deserve the credit, but I'm just hoping he'll throw me a bone for my part in laying groundwork for this discussion to even happen.

I decided that today was Fedora Friday, and wore this white fedora with all-black. Fedoras don't look good on me but oh well.


And all of my coworkers were wearing graphic tees, despite them being outlawed in the employee handbook, so I will wear one on Sunday in solidarity.

The shift was fine, it wasn't as crazy as last Friday so maybe there are fewer people willing to stay out late now that school has started again? I somehow managed to sell THREE Tilley hats! They're $100 each and have a lifetime warranty, but they are HIDEOUS. I don't know who is wearing these or why. Unless you're about to spend a month in the jungle or something I can't see a need for 'em. Well...three people out there are now ready for a jungle safari :p

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Saturday, I'd had stress-dreams about the petunia, limbs snapping off or the plant dying :(
If this one dies, it's not like I can just go out and get another. It's a special plant...and it was expensive!
It will make me feel a lot better to get a successful cutting.

I mixed up it's fertilizer and had breakfast, then went for a walk before the heat got too oppressive.
On my walk I saw a beautiful clearwing sphinx moth, and found a beautiful dead butterfly.

(CLICK HERE to see the sphinx moth)



Back home I did laundry, then drove to Whole Paycheck for salmon filets and a few other things.
Jameson spent the afternoon watching scary movies while I prepped dinner stuff and repotted the petunia.
Original pot:


Post-potting. I did take it inside before repotting to see if the roots glow, but if they did I couldn't see it at all. The roots were very thin and sparse. I'm hoping that burying the main stem will allow more roots to grow. I do think the plant looks more comfortable, closer to the soil like this.


Also, not sure if you can tell but that flower in the middle has a slight pink tinge to it! Perhaps the plant has a pink variety in its ancestry.

I made sous vide salmon with lemon dill sauce, lemon orzo, and roasted broccoli for dinner. Fancy for no reason.
Put the petunia out at night to acclimate to the humidity. It'll be out there until afternoon tomorrow.

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Sunday, I hadn't slept well but that's ok. I didn't work until evening so had a generally chill day.

Coffee and breakfast. Checked on the petunia and it was fine. It started wilting closer to lunchtime when the heat index got above 90°F, so I brought it inside and it perked up almost immediately. Practiced the trombone.

Partway through the day I got two exciting Papa Pal visits!

The hat shop has only been giving me about 18 hours per week so far, so I've decided to supplement by doing Papa Pal on some of my off days. Today I noticed that there were two upcoming visits only five minutes apart. Turns out one is at a memory care facility and the other is at a hospice, and both of them are "companionship visits," meaning instead of scrubbing toilets or mopping floors I'll be spending the time engaging someone in conversation, playing games or doing arts and crafts, and generally just chilling with a new senior friend :)

THIS is why I signed up to do Papa Pals; because it seemed like an opportunity to provide social and emotional aid. Not only that, these two visits are through actual medical facilities and I'll have to check in with a social services agent once I get there, which frankly makes me feel a whole lot safer than just showing up at a random stranger's house and hoping they're not a weirdo.

I know that the visits might not go all hunky-dory, especially the hospice visit. But I'm happy for the opportunity...and maybe this is strange, but I'm excited for them. I'm not a very emotional person, but listening to nursing home interviews as a TSOLife employee for the past several years really has touched me (see THIS entry.) 

Anyway, I really hope both visits go well.

A few hours after lunch Jameson left to meet some friends for a movie. The theater is at Disney Springs so they're going to swing by and visit during my shift! I'm weirdly nervous about it but it'll be fine. After he left I took a quick trip to Walmart for a tiny orchid flower (for the person in hospice) and a cup of Mexican rice pudding (for the person with dementia.) Back home a quick shower and typing up this blog...dinner, and then off to work.

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You'll have to wait for the next post for Today's Hat photo. I'm wearing my pink graphic tee with a banana and a strawberry on it, and grey dress slacks. I'm thinking a pale green hat would be nice, or maybe I'll get REALLY crazy and try a tan cowboy hat!

Monday: Visiting my two Papa Pals, rest of the day is free. I may take cuttings from the petunia, we will see how it's doing.

Tuesday: Working the mid-day shift at the hat shop.

Wednesday: A day off, I'll practice because I've been granted a rehearsal with the Main Street Philharmonic on Thursday! I hope we play through the Halloween stuff!

Here it is, August and the hottest summer I've ever experienced.
Every single day, high temperatures of high 90s (35C and up) and heat indexes in the triple digits (42-43C.) Every. Single. Day.

I don't want to go outside at all, and that makes me really sad. One of the things that I miss most about touring is walking and exploring everywhere. Public parks and cities and suburbs and museums and gardens. Lots of outdoor options.

Not here.

Anyway, at 9:30am it was 87F (30.5C) with a heat index of 101F (38C.) Sigh.
I went for an introspective walk.


( Go for a walk with me? )

- I shared this with a friend over on DW, and thought it might provide some perspective to LJ friends as well. Mostly regarding my attempts at making Uber Eats deliveries...but also to show what it's like to commute, in general, in Central Florida, with Disney's big butt right in the middle of everything.


The blue dot is me (by the way, I have a Kissimmee zip code...but notice that Kissimmee is actually a 40-minute drive due east of us!)

The red circle is the theme parks, Disney and Universal property AND also the highways that encircle them and are impacted by tourist traffic.

The blue circles are some cities and towns where ACTUAL Floridians live and work: Orlando, Kissimmee, Clermont. There is also the airport, which as you can imagine with tourists and retirees and snowbirds and businessfolks and layovers en route to the Bahamas or Cuba or Atlanta or wherever, is a total hellscape at all times.

See how BIG Disney property is, and how it is directly between me and essentially everything. In order to reach universities, business parks, shopping centers, restaurant hubs, etc, my choices are to fight theme park traffic on those highways surrounding Disney, or take much longer circuitous routes (which are ALL toll roads btw.) See Winter Park up there above Orlando? That's where I spent three hours delivering Uber Eats last week. It took me an hour to get up there for just $20 in earnings, then an hour drive back.

To my west is a wetland/wildlife preserve. Although the road to Clermont north of us is usually free of tourists, it's still a 30 minute drive (I am considering testing Uber Eats up there also.) And eventually Davenport down south will be worth visiting too, but not for at least a few more months while they're building it up. But anyway I hope this gives some perspective on not only Uber Eats, but also commuting ANYWHERE in the Orlando area.

--  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  --

The rest of Thursday was fine. I got cleaned up from the walk and put the meatballs in the crock pot for dinner, then practiced trombone and made us some no-bake cookies for no reason other than I wanted them. I did a half recipe which was only 13 cookies. Decorated some with Lucky Charms marshmallows, and some with butterscotch chips.


Dinner was sticky meatballs with mashed potatoes and lemon pepper green beans.


Despite looking so juicy the meatballs were somewhat dry, probably because they're turkey and because I was doing a half-recipe and let them simmer for too long. Lesson learned for next time. Still, it wasn't bad and Jameson even had seconds.

Meanwhile my firefly petunia is blooming for the first time since shipping, and put on a spectacular light show last night!

The flowers are small, about nickel-sized, but beautiful.



Here is daytime vs nighttime! I couldn't BELIEVE how brightly it was glowing.


For contrast, here is the photo I took the day I received the firefly petunia in the mail.
Same phone camera and same exposure settings!


The flowers were larger when I first received it, but the foliage was very weak. To be honest I'd rather have a healthy leafy plant than one with lots of blooms or bigger blooms.

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Friday, my Papa Pal canceled on me so I had the day free. After breakfast I cleaned the patio sliding doors, cleaned our bathrooms, and confirmed my Papa Pal visit for Saturday morning. The Saturday evening Pal called to cancel as well, idk what's going on this weekend but it's kind of a bummer for me.

I'd meant to swim in the pool or run misc errands but wasn't really feeling it. Didn't want to practice today either.
I want to start my job and waiting is difficult.

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Saturday morning was my Papa Pal visit. This was a 60-something male who recently herniated his back. I cleaned the oven and microwave, wiped down the cabinets and countertops, wiped out some silverware drawers, cleaned the glass coffee table in the living room, swept, and mopped. Unlike all of my other Papa Pal visits to date, this guy was talkative and kept up a steady stream of conversation about life, health care, politics, weather, tastes in music, his background, my background, etc. I actually preferred that, it made the time go faster and made me feel less like a servant. I also didn't have to scrub any toilets for once, a pleasant change.

This guy had a big white 90-pound pit bull who was a total sweetheart. I love how big and blocky pit bulls are in the head! Just wanna waggle their noggins and smoosh their dopey faces! Unfortunately this dog was rather stinky, so I had to stop at a gas station on the way home to wash up because the dog-smell was *gag*

I went to my bagel place (pumpernickel, egg, blueberry) then Publix for ingredients for Cubans tomorrow. Lunch at home, a little rest, trombone practice. It was weirdly breezy, I suppose because of the tropical storm headed our way (which no one cares about because tropical storms are not worth bothering about here.) And I was finally scheduled for three shifts at the hat shop, 18 hours' worth. Yay! It's a big relief to ACTUALLY be scheduled for shifts.

Scheduled myself another Papa Pal for Monday with an older woman who "needs help with yard work" and wants to "play board games." It's a two hour visit so my hope is that we'll garden for an hour and play games for an hour! But we'll see what actually happens.

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Sunday was quiet. I went for a walk after breakfast, ahead of Tropical Storm Debby. There were lots of people doing the same, walking their dogs or getting exercise or doing last-minute pre-storm yardwork.

The most interesting thing that I saw on this walk was a little garter snake sitting very still in a field, head raised above the grass, staring directly up into the sky. I thought he was a stick until I got closer and he angled his head back down to look at me. I wonder what he saw up there? Was he watching the storm bands rolling in? I didn't know that snakes looked up.

--  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  --

Back home I got the mojo pork marinating and got cleaned up. After lunch Jameson went to the masseuse and I confirmed my Papa Pal visit for tomorrow.

The daughter answered the phone, and we talked about what would be expected of me. This one will be unique: it's an elderly woman and her husband who has dementia. They are Spanish-speakers and I don't speak a lick of Spanish, but I have Google Translate and the daughter says this will be less about conversation and more about simply being present. They have no actual chores that need doing, so the plan right now is to make tuna sandwiches together and play some games (Chinese checkers was mentioned.) Since we're supposed to be in the thick of the tropical storm tomorrow, this honestly sounds like a lovely way to spend a few hours (and get paid for it!)

After that I cooked the tenderloin in the oven, cooled and sliced it.
Jameson gamed and I watched anime.

For dinner I made simple cubanos: Cuban bread from Publix, sliced pickles, the mojo pork slices, low sodium deli ham, Swiss cheese, and coarse mustard. Smash it all as flat as you can under a hot skillet, and you've got one delicious sandwich.


It rained for most of the evening, which isn't unusual but the 20mph winds and cooler temps (76 degrees, yay!) were a pleasant addition thanks to the tropical storm. It was still insanely humid but otherwise a lovely rainy day.

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Tomorrow I've got my Papa Pal during lunch, otherwise the only things to do are practice trombone and prepare for my first day of work at the hat shop. I'm excited and nervous but will do my best.

Hopefully you had a livable 4th of July!

Ideally with lots of friends and family around and BBQ food and good weather and some sort of body of water or sprinkler to splash in. And at night, fireflies and s'mores.

I haven't had a 4th of July like that since I was very little. Ah well.

-------------------------------------------

Was up at 6am on the holiday because there is no rest for the wicked. Did data entry and ate breakfast. Jameson got up at 10, he doesn't have to work today. There's a heat advisory, it could get up to a 110°F (43.33°C) heat index today, how very ENJOYABLE. (-_-)

After lunch and tromboning I saw that Jameson was in the pool with a High Noon seltzer and thought, f*ck this, I need that too. Promptly joined him. We talked--it always amazes me that we live together AND both work from home, and still we somehow find things to talk about!--and enjoyed the water and admiring all of my fruit plants. The neighbors were barbecuing and playing music, big summer vibes all around.

After just a half hour I went back inside to hit my 6 hours of data entry, then got to rest for a few minutes before starting dinner. Chicago dogs and sides. No photos because it wasn't impressive and you've seen such before.

The berry dump was easy to make. Poured the berry/sugar/bourbon/vanilla combo into a loaf pan and threw in cubed cold butter.

Layered it onto the berries, and the extra onto a sheet pan. It's always good to have extra crumble, guarantees a crunchy topping no matter how much juice the berries put out.

The sheet pan needs to be pulled about 20 minutes into a 45-minute bake. When it cools a bit you can break it up with your hands or a spoon.

Finished crumble, berry juices leaking up to the top.


I waited for it to cool a bit, then topped with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. So good! Because the berries marinated in the booze overnight you can really taste the bourbon (though I felt it was also a bit bitter; make sure you use GOOD bourbon.)

We were REALLY full after that, but that's what holidays are all about.

The neighborhood sounded more and more like a war zone the later it got. I expect the weekend to be noisy too.

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Friday doesn't feel like Friday.

The heat index today is 110°F with humidity at 85%, so I expect my Disney day on Saturday will be even worse than that (the high temp that day is two degrees warmer and no rain in the forecast.) We do 8 miles (12.8 km) of walking per day in general in the park, but I get to add an extra mile (14 km total) since the women's bathroom is far from the band's dressing room and if I visit it between each show, it adds up to the extra mile.

Well anyway, TODAY I did data entry and a short run-through of Disney music and applied to more jobs. In the evening Jameson went to Epcot with plans to at least partially "drink around the world," and I had to nearly bite my tongue in half to not nag/mommy him about staying hydrated. Gotta remember that he is 40 years old and is relatively responsible/mindful compared to many other men.

While Jameson was gone I went to Walmart because they're the only ones who carry Slate milk locally, and got other little things that we can use (black pens, dish soap, etc.) The rest of my night was chill and boring which is fine by me.

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Saturday I was up early for a Disney day. It's been a few weeks since I last performed at the park. The warm-up room is now decorated with glittery stars and fireworks stickies for 4th of July, and there have been some new storage shelves installed that are pretty nice (no pictures so I don't get in trouble for sharing backstage stuffs.)

I did very well musically today. Since memorizing all of the pieces last week, I've been able to just relax and practice them at my leisure, and that's been helpful for getting comfortable. I was nervous as usual today but was able to relax like 50%. I also appreciated having two members of the band approaching me separately to give complements on how I sounded today :) Makes me feel accepted, and like I'm doing a good job.

Evidence that I was there, taken from a YouTube snippet:

It was super hot but the heat index "only" reached 103 so it was "tolerable." I'll be in the park again a week from today.

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Sunday, I had kind of a frustrating morning, just didn't feel like data entry so kept allowing myself to be distracted by little side-projects like washing our second set of bedsheets and fertilizing my bananas.

They are looking pretty good! I don't want to get my hopes up but at least they aren't shriveling.


After lunch, more data entry instead of practice because I wanted to have a free evening. Around 3pm Jameson went out with his friend Lea to spend time at Universal and see the new night parade, which is based on classic movies I think? Will have to check it out myself.

As for me, I enjoyed a mango High Moon and an Eat Fresco dinner, watching anime, and worrying about my job prospects for the future. And while that was happening our neighbor Tom rang the doorbell. He gave us his largest pineapple, that he grew himself!!! I was stunned by his generosity but he waved me off, saying there was another close behind it (there is) and that they've gotten more pineapples than they know what to do with already. It's very beautiful and probably ready to be eaten, like, now.


Debating what to make with it. A fried rice? Upside-down mini-cakes? A jam, so I can give some back to Tom?
Feel free to throw ideas at me. Right now I'm thinking eat half of it fresh, and the other half as a sort of cashew chicken stir fry.

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Tomorrow will be my "weekend" day.
No plans other than to not set an alarm, to hit Whole Paycheck for some sort of ingredients, practice trombone, and go for a neighborhood walk. Oh, and apply for jobs. Cheers!