goofball on a train

Before Jameson got back from his concert last night, I couldn't take it any more...I HAD to see if my new Firefly Petunia really glowed!

So I brought it into the guest bathroom which has no windows, and let my eyes adjust.
You guys...............!


It really does glow!!
It's a very dim, gentle glow, like you might see from a dying firely or a glow-in-the-dark toy that hasn't been charged in the sun. But also, the company was very clear that this was not going to be a light display :p It's the first of its kind, and the fact that it produces its own light AT ALL, strong enough to be seen with the naked eye, is a scientific breakthrough. I found myself amazed, looking at this little glowing plant and realizing that it is a whole new "creature," made to be the way it is by humans. Even more impressive, since this was done through DNA/genetic modification, the bioluminescent trait will carry on through the seeds as well. They can be cultivated. SO COOL.

(I know that the fruits and veg that we eat are all heavily modified in a similar way, it's just that this is a whole 'nother direction for the same concept!)

Here's the same photo + another one, both have been enhanced to bring out detail and brightness.



All photos were taken with my iPhone's Night Mode and the longest exposure it offers (10 seconds.) There are much better pictures online from people with actual high-res cameras, but for me this will have to do.

After that excitement I decided to take a night dip in the pool. Our pool light is broken, but I like swimming in the darker water with our solar lights sparkling across the surface. No sun to burn my eyes out...insects and frogs singing in the woods...the cool still water. It was lovely.


When Jameson got home he told me all about the concert, he still had adrenaline going  and I wanted to hear all about it anyway plus tell him about my new plant, so by the time we got to bed it was probably 1am.

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Thursday I was up early knowing that the new AI had been unleashed. I tried to pick up an AI ticket, but there were none to be found. There also seemed to be no protocol in place for finding one, so I screwed up my courage and at risk of sounding like an obsolete dinosaur who can't figure it out on my own, posted in the chat to say, "I can't find any AI tickets to work on, can someone please assist" or something like that. To my great relief several people chimed in to say they were having the same issue. An admin instructed us to go back to the old way of processing, but keep an eye out for a list of available AI tickets. So I have another reprieve and a delay from teaching AI to replace me.

It poured all morning which was a surprise. I think the remnants of Beryl might have been passing through? I wrote this post, which cost me time at work, but throughout the day I continued to be interrupted by Trombone Things!

Trombone Things (and other distractions):

- A local trumpet player messaged to ask if I'd be interested in joining an all-female Chicago tribute band. Uuuh, YES PLEASE!! Not sure if I'm "good enough" but then I always feel that way. Sent her some videos of my playing so she can decide for herself, and offered to help with any legwork.

- The trombonist who wanted to do a Williams/Minick trade got back to me, and we initiated the trade. It DOES involve exchanging the monetary cost of the horns, which we agreed is $$$$. He is able to ship my horn first, so I am going to pay him first, using PayPal (and Buyer Protection) of course. Plus this is definitely a known professional trombonist, not some random dude on Ebay or whatever, he has a long history in the music community and would be in deep professional doodoo if he screwed me over. Still, sending the money did make me cringe. As I type this I'm currently waiting for him to send tracking on my horn AND to send me payment for the Minick, which he said he'd also do today but which I have no problem waiting for since I can't send him the Minick until Sunday (there will be no time on Fri/Sat when I'm working for Disney all day.)

- As mentioned earlier it was pouring for several hours this morning, and it was also windy, and when I looked outside my fruiting banana was leaning quite a bit further than it had been. So I commenced a rescue operation, using three bungee cords to tie it to the tree next to it. Hopefully they don't BOTH fall over (they won't.)


...and then it was lunch time, and then Jameson wanted to show me something, and then I had to practice and pack for Disney...and by the time all that was done it was 2:30pm and I had only done about 3 hours of work. Argh!!

Trombone Guy didn't send me tracking because his post office closed early. But he did send pics of the package ready to be sent tomorrow morning. I'm sending his on Sunday, and am hoping he'll reciprocate with me re: sending the money in advance like I did.

Before bed I dragged Jameson into the guest bathroom to look at my glowy petunia.
Interestingly, it is now glowing not only in the flower buds but also the stems of the plant!!
And the largest flowers are not glowing any more (they are also wilting) so it's like you can SEE where the plant is sending it's energy, to the new buds and new growth. Supposedly the roots also glow, but we will see that when I repot it.

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Main Street Philharmonic has added more performance sets, but they are shorter.
So now instead of 12:10 or whatever the first set of the day is at 10am!
This means I have to get up around 6:30 if I want to make and eat breakfast, get cleaned up, start driving around 8am, and get to the band room to warm up between 8:30am and 9. So that's what I did, stopping at Publix on the way because I used the last of my coffee without realizing it.

The day went quickly and was pretty simple because we had two subs who aren't versed in the longer medleys. I played "all right" but not as well as last week, not sure why but I just wasn't really feeling confident I guess. We had good crowds and the parade especially was well attended.

Back home, Trombone Guy shipped my trombone and also sent my money! Now all that's left to do is get his Minick packaged and sent out. I have been playing it in the park, and decided to wash it today so it will have time to dry overnight, then pack it tomorrow and ship it UPS on Sunday. My Williams is supposed to arrive on Monday, so I'm guessing he'll get his Minick by Wednesday or Thursday. I really hope he likes it and that this trade works out.

It felt strange, washing the Minick tonight and realizing that today may have been the last time I've played it.

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Slept very poorly and got up at 6:30, this time leaving the house a bit early so I could hit Walmart in the morning for bubble wrap. Someone caught our performance of "When You Wish Upon a Star" yesterday! This is usually a parade tune, but since we're doing shorter sets and more sets we've started using parade music to give more variety.
(CLICK HERE to watch)

I finally got to play the Frozen medley in the park, and it went just fine. It was very hot and humid out and I was tired, so it was a struggle, but made it through. I was playing my Williams since the Minick is awaiting packaging. During the second set we were doing the Hot Dog Dance which is audience interactive, and an adorable little girl toddled over. I said, "Would you like to dance?" and she reached out her hand...and GRABBED the end of my slide before I could react!

Since she was very small, I wasn't deeply worried. I just held the top portion of the slide as she pulled it up and down, so that I'd still have more-or-less full control. And she quickly lost interest, let go, and started doing that weird bounce-squat dance that little kids do. But inside I was having a nice ironic chuckle. Wouldn't it just go to figure if a tiny child were the one to wreck my vintage trombone!

It was fine, by my trombonist bandmates were soooo horrified. "Can't believe you let her do that!" they exclaimed.
At the end of the day, a trombone is just a thing.

Anyway, day was fine and nothing else to report except I was itching to get home and pack the Minick.


It's so weird to be sending it off. There was a time that I swore I'd never sell it. But that was a time before I'd ever played a Williams. Took a load of pictures and sent them to Trombone Guy for approval, then boxed it all up. Tomorrow I'll get up early, do some work until UPS opens, then ship 'er out.

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Sunday, up at 6am to do work. We are supposed to be doing things differently with the new AI training program, but I am diving in after two days off and am not sure yet if I'm doing things "right." I asked for help but it's Sunday so there aren't a lot of people around to give feedback.

UPS opened at 9am, so I got the Minick shipped off and swung by the grocery for a pork tenderloin for dinner tomorrow.

Back home, more data entry then lunch and trying to make the "healthy version" of the peanut butter yogurt popsicles from last week, which involved substituting PB Fit for the peanut butter and keeping everything else the same. It turned out a lot more watery, so I think what I should have done was mix the PB Fit into the yogurt without adding liquid to it first. Will do that next time, or maybe just do a half-substitution. Some fat is certainly good to have!

After lunch Jameson went to the movies with friends and I did more work and applied to some jobs.
We had a nice thunderstorm at night.

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Tomorrow I'm supposed to receive the Williams in the mail, but the tracking shows it's still in New York so I won't hold my breath. Otherwise anticipating a normal day of data entry, cooking dinner, etc etc.

I could have slept in on Monday but was wide awake a little after 7. Oh well.

Did a little research on trombones on The Trombone Chat (which is just what it sounds like, a forum and classifieds for trombonists.) Have probably mentioned this before but I do not want to use my precious, irreplaceable Williams trombone in the park, so am looking for a trombone that would be safer to use outdoors...one that I could stand losing, or repairing.

I only have four more scheduled dates at Disney, but in general the Williams (and the Minick for that matter) should not be my ONLY options for theme park work. They're both very rare and once they're damaged they not only lose value, they are also irreplaceable.

( Trombone Nerd Stuff )

Aaaanyway, Jameson and I were at the martini bar because his friend Tracy was performing in a comedy show there (Gaggle Reflex) and she'd asked him to perform on a song. Just one song, so for the rest of the time he could enjoy the show with meeee :)

The blacklight painting on the wall. I can never get the whole thing in frame. There are many martini glasses hidden in the mural.


For the cocktail I went with The Woodsman: Woodford Reserve, St. Germaine, 10-year Tawny Port, Amish fig jam, mint, lime. Not flavors I'd usually get but that's kinda why I got it. It was very good, I especially liked that the fig was gently sweet and gave texture to the drink.


They don't water down the drinks here either...learned that the first time. Enjoyed the comedy show with a lovely buzz, some good laughs were had. Jameson's part wasn't until the end, but he only had a beer so as not to be muddled in the head.

Here he is waiting for his cue. (So cute <3)


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Tuesday I was up early but not early enough, because I felt pretty dissatisfied with everything I touched today.
I got my six hours of data entry and an hour of trombone practice, and went to the grocery for taco salad ingredients, and vacuumed while Jameson was at the gym. I probably just need to go for a walk again to work off this unease, but didn't find time today.

Made the taco salad for dinner, so easy.
And made these super-simple Ritzy Rolos treats (thanks TikTok!)


Take some Ritz crackers. Put a rolo in the center of each one. Preheat oven to 350F. Stick the crackers in there for a minute and thirty or until the Rolos look shiny and start to lose shape (if they're melting you've waited too long.) Take 'em out and slap another Ritz cracker on top. Eat them warm or after they've set. We've tried them both ways and they're awesome warm or cold.

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Wednesday decided to get up at 6am. I'd like to be able to have a real weekend if possible, for once, which means more work up front.

Sometimes the quiet twilight in the morning is nice and calming too, even if I'm very tired. The early woodland/swamp birds calling to each other, hearing people getting in their cars to head to work. I keep forgetting to mention that we've been sleeping with a white/brown/pink noise machine, and I'm surprised that we stay asleep longer and feel more rested when it's on. Not sure why I never got into those before.

Between chunks of data entry I threw out my dead lemon tree, threw out my expired plant fertilizers and sprays, changed our bedsheets, did laundry, applied for some jobs, and did laps in the pool for "exercise."

Our big excitement today was having new toilets installed! We've been trying to do this for ages but contractors here in FL are majority scam artists...I'm not kidding. I got ripped off for nearly $400 while Jameson was at work and I was handling an AC repair alone (the guy refused to leave our house, I wrote a whole rant about it.) And then when Jameson tried to replace our toilets the first time the contractor uninstalled both of them, couldn't install the new ones properly, still charged Jameson the full cost of installation even though we didn't actually get anything new installed, AND THEN reinstalled our old toilets incorrectly. I still don't understand why Jameson paid him, but then he probably doesn't understand why I paid the AC guy either. We're idiots, I guess, for not having become HVAC technicians or plumbers ourselves, or for thinking that people who have business licenses and websites advertising themselves as plumbers are actually plumbers.

Anyway, THESE installers were part of a purchase and installation package from Lowe's, so if they screwed up at least we'd have recourse.
And guess what! While they didn't "screw up," one of the toilets showed up broken in the box!
So we did get the master toilet installed, but the guest bathroom is now just a pipe in the floor.


I joked that we could always just turn it into a Chinese toilet.
Honestly, I wouldn't be opposed; supposedly everything "comes out" easier when you're squatting.

Supposedly we will have another toilet showing up on Friday, fingers crossed because the hole in the floor reeks of sewage.
Meanwhile our one new toilet is lovely. The old one was on the verge of breaking and was running constantly. Our new one is super basic but compared to the old one it's a throne for kings and queens :p

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Another quiet weekend in the works, which I'll try to appreciate since the 4th of July is coming up.
Recall that we live in a vacation rental neighborhood...........

In closing, my banana tree trying to make bananas.

Thursday, a final Disney rehearsal before a full day in the park on Saturday.

I did three castle sets and the flag retreat. Was excused from the parade again, but rather than feeling grateful I felt embarrassed when everyone else came back to the dressing room hot and panting, having worked hard while I did nothing. But then, that's what Keith's whole day is like whenever I'm there shadowing, so I need to remember that too.

I think I'm getting the hang of things now. Still not perfect but the more I get to play-and-move the better it gets. On Saturday I'll get to play the Encanto medley in the park for the first time, and maybe the Classics Medley too weather permitting.

"Weather permitting" because it is HOT. Today was a high of 98°F / 36.6°C with a heat index of 112°F / 44.44°C. I don't know how people can spend the whole day outdoors at Disney in those conditions. Yes there are gift shops and restaurants to duck into but there's also an awful lot of unshaded ground to cover.

Anyway I felt that the day went well. The guys gave me notes here and there, some regarding small movements (i.e. when to have both hands on my trombone for Star Spangled Banner instead of one,) and others were for small musical things (i.e. holding notes a little too long or cutting them off a little too short.) These are very minor things that will naturally get corrected with repetition/familiarity, but I was glad for the feedback because I don't want to learn things wrong or get into bad habits. Really appreciated that they were watching me for mistakes! No one seemed worried that I wouldn't be ready, or concerned that I wasn't going to meet the band's standards, and that's what really mattered.

Back home I unpacked, had dinner, and collapsed with a big water bottle.

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Friday, up at 6am for data entry.

After lunch I decided not to practice the trombone for once (if I haven't learned what I need to get through Saturday by now, it's not going to happen in one practice session) and instead embarked on the long trek to Whole Paycheck. Kind of a treat to myself, and to get those items that are difficult to find elsewhere. Some of the treats that I indulged in:

- Salmon candy: salmon that's been marinated in sweet-and-salty stuff then dried/cooked/smoked until it has a jerky-like texture. I've always wanted to try it and today they had a very small $4 container of it! It's good but very oily, and the skin is chewy and stretchy making it kinda hard to eat. You can FEEL the Omega-3s in it haha.
- Koia in exclusive flavors. My faves are Banana Creme and Fruity Cereal.
- Mezcla bars. They're a protein bar that is low fat and calorie so I like to have some on hand for travel (or in this case for my Disney days.)
- NuGo bars in exclusive flavors. Similarly to Mezclas, they're vegan protein bars. Most gas stations have them but Whole Paycheck has exclusive flavors like Almond and Coconut.
- Ingredients to make us a summer BBQ dinner
- Australian licorice
- A few bulk cookies, today's selections were a pineapple cake cookie for Jameson and a guava sandwich cookie for meeeee
- Frozen sockeye salmon filets so I can make us sous vide salmon next week
- Grocery store sushi, we are posh like that.

It's almost an hour and a half round-trip for only a 15-mile drive, not counting the shopping, so by the time I got home I was very tired but had to put in at least another two hours of data entry. After that we had Whole Paycheck sushi for dinner, I vacuumed and packed a lunch for work tomorrow...and that was pretty much it. I'm nervous but what else is new.

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Saturday I was up early. First full day as a sub at Disney. No one there to step in if I collapse from heat exhaustion; no safety net if I forget my music or mess up the choreography. Here we go!

I got there way too early but used the time to do a run-through, warm up, and get partially dressed (it's easier to have my pants and undershirt on before the menfolk arrive.) My friend Will was on tuba and Sara on trumpet, but most of the other musicians were new to me. The Main Street Phil has 24 substitutes plus at least 12 full time members, maybe more. It is hard to keep track of everyone but nevertheless I shook hands and tried very hard to make names stick in my brain.

Jameson, bless his supportive and loving heart, spent the whole day in the Magic Kingdom to record the band.
I can't tell you how much it meant to look out into the crowd and see his face :)
My family (such as it is) is all hundreds of miles away, and my parents are dead. It means a lot to have someone in this world who would care so much about what I do, that they'd spend a whole day in 106°F (41.1°C) heat to watch me and record footage for me. It's hard to express how monumental that is.

I did all three castle sets, the parade, and the flag retreat.
Some screenshots, courtesy Jameson:




This was such a good picture but for some reason my phone seems to darken screenshots.


Hot Doggin' (free dance during Hot Dog Dance song.) I love any chance to goof off!


Critique:
The first and second sets were good, but I messed up the choreography for Encanto in a way that impacted where others could move around me. Everyone reassured me that it was not a big deal (and watching the video I agree, it is not noticeable to the audience whatsoever) but I certainly won't make that mistake again! My other biggish mistake was screwing up When You Wish during the parade, AGAIN, ugh I am tired of messing that piece up!! Something about it is slippery to my brain. The good news is that I will always drop out/stop playing when I'm crashing and burning, which means it's not usually noticeable to the audience. The bad news is that means a part is missing :/

Still, none of the mistakes that I made today were catastrophic. I received small notes from my peers, and got a second chance at Encanto for the third set and nailed it. I'd say it was a successful day!

Oh, I also had a pretty intense panic attack just before the flag retreat. I don't know what triggered it but can guess: maybe being in a high state of tension all day; the intense heat; being more hungry than I should have let myself get; and psyching myself into a freakout because "this is the last thing of the day, don't screw up or pass out from heat!" Physically I felt totally fine but internally was fighting the horrible sensations of panic. I suffered with panic attacks in the circus as well and was fully expecting that they'd resurface here, but that doesn't make it fun to go through.

Anyway, back to the GOOD parts of the day.

Actually before we get into today, here's a video that I found taken on June 6th while three of the four female musicians were rehearsing in the park. This set has all three of us ladies performing, which is super rare and may not happen again! Timestamps are in the comments. In the last song, When We're Human, I have two small solos.
(CLICK HERE to watch "The Ladies Set"!)

1st set of the day: Mickey's Fanfare, Be Our Guest, Under the Sea, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Hot Dog Dance, Wanna Be Like You.
(CLICK HERE to watch 1st Set)

2nd set: Mickey's Fanfare, Be Our Guest, Encanto Medley. This was my first time playing Encanto in the park.
(CLICK HERE to watch 2nd Set)

It's my job to hand out maracas during audience interactions, and doing that for the first time today finalized that I CANNOT use the Williams trombone in the park any longer. I can't risk the slide getting damaged as kids crowd around, while handling the awkward maraca bag, directing guests here and there, etc. So today became my trombone's LAST day in the park lol.

Some clips from the parade!
Parade start in Frontierland, we're doing the end of Frozen/Let it Go and then Hot Dog Dance.
(CLICK HERE for Parade Part 1)

When You Wish in front of the castle. Jameson didn't know that the band stops here; he just happened to be in the right place at the right time!
(CLICK HERE for When You Wish Upon A Star)

It's a Small World After All:
(CLICK HERE for IASW)

Jameson didn't record the 3rd set since we were repeating songs, so here's the flag ceremony, in which I was having a panic attack but nobody knows that. It's just patriotic stuff (see description for timestamps) but it's also one of the oldest ongoing events at Disney (since 1955!) and it's a privilege to participate.
(CLICK HERE for Flag Ceremony)

In closing, a close-up of one of the buttons on my costume.


I was utterly exhausted by the end of the day.
Five sets in intense heat and humidity.
Walking (or marching) approximately 7-10 miles over the course of the day.
Sweating buckets. Hydrating like crazy!
But it was fun, it was successful, and I've already been scheduled to do another one on Monday!

Jameson and I had to drive home separately. He got so burnt! I was so grateful that he endured the heat for me today. He went to see the Dapper Dans and other shows as well, but still. We spent the evening crashed in front of the couch, him working on LEGOs and me editing and uploading and social-posting all of his wonderful footage.

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Sunday I was exhausted on several levels, but didn't feel "bad" thankfully. Still panicky/anxious but there's nothing to do about that.

Instead of data entry I finished uploading Jameson's footage, then made pasta salad and got some chicken drumsticks marinating for dinner. I did data entry for about an hour but then the site crashed and didn't come back. To be honest....I needed the break today. My nerves are destroyed and while I'm not sore, I'm physically tired and Monday might be more of a struggle. How do people do this gig on consecutive days?? 

The company data entry website never came back online; my bosses were discussing it when I finally gave up checking the chat around 7pm. At least if my hours are short this week it's fully justified, that actually takes a lot of pressure off of me.

For dinner: air fryer BBQ drumsticks, homemade pasta salad, sweet corn, watermelon.
The chicken was amazing but next time I want to do half of them with a BBQ dry rub so they'll stay crispy.


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Tomorrow is now another full Disney day for me. It's supposed to be incredibly hot again BUT it's supposed to start raining around 3pm. God I hope it actually does, if only to make our sets slightly shorter or cool things off a bit.

After that, I am very much looking forward to a week of catching up on household chores and memorizing the last two pieces in my Disney repertoire.

Monday I was sad to get up at 6am, but it's a busy week.

Managed to get two hours of work in before driving the 40 minutes to my friend Pat's house for trombone repairs. It's not really "repairs" I guess, but the slide on this Minick trombone is garbage, and it's my only option right now to protect my Williams trombone from damage from the elements at Disney.

Pat is a trombonist himself, so of course he wanted to play the Minick (it's a rare horn.) He sounded fantastic (sorry I couldn't record, he doesn't care to be shared around online.) I'm always jealous to hear him play, but it's always a treat to hear him play!

Back home lunch and a big long audition practice session. I feel maybe a little more comfortable but am overall not pleased with my weakness at jazz, especially after hearing Pat play today. Trying to remind myself that everyone is different and has different skills, and it doesn't make me a better or worse trombonist per se that I'm weak in this area, and even though I'm not a strong jazz musician I've had such incredible gigs. AND I've never won a job by audition in my entire life, so certainly if I lose this one it should be nothing new and make no difference.

Then it was more data entry and packing a bag and lunch for Disney tomorrow.
Dinner from our favorite Greek place and as usual it did not disappoint.

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Tuesday, up at 6am to do an hour of work before heading to Disney. I felt frazzled and anxious because I couldn't stop thinking about the audition but I was SUPPOSED to be thinking about the here-and-now, and playing my first castle set today!!

As soon as I walked in, Keith (the trombonist I'll be subbing for) surprised me with a gift.
It's an enamel pin of Mickey as a trombonist!!


I love it of course and stuck it to my bag immediately :)
Matt (trumpet buddy) also had brought me a new badge holder, a fancy one that holds two ID cards and has tabs so you can easily slide them out to clock in/out. I felt like it was my birthday or something haha.

The best part of the day was that I wasn't alone; of the four female MSP sub musicians, three were rehearsing in the park today! Kristen (trumpet) and Robin (tuba) and I, and there was also a male sub on drums. I'm sure it's tough on the regulars to have so many newbs to babysit, but all of us are hard workers and were ready to do our absolute best.

Off we marched to do our first set. Keith kindly offered to record it for us!

Here is a 10-minute version, edited a little for transitions. The songs are Mickey's Fanfare, Be Our Guest, Under the Sea, Hot Dog Dance, and Wanna Be Like You. (CLICK HERE to watch)

Here's a 2-minute version with ONLY trombone highlights, my little solo hot dog dance, and the band finale :)
(CLICK HERE to watch)

Trombone section screenshot:


Afterward I felt "ok" about it...mostly I had trouble with moving while playing. Didn't know quite when it was gonna happen so was always late and made some mistakes in the music because of the movement. But frankly, if someone had pulled me aside and verbally told me the blocking, I wouldn't have remembered it in the nervousness of this first set. Sometimes the best way to do a thing, is to Do The Thing, even if you're not 100% ready. Everyone in the band was pleased with how we did and said we'd only get better with time. Since these guys have been here for years, I must believe them!

We subs performed two castle sets and the parade. Kristen's partner was on hand and graciously took pictures specifically for all of the subs. Here are the ones she took for me!




This last one is my favorite. I'm right in the center of the band as we march down Main Street USA, the castle in the background. It's just...can you imagine how this feels, to be a part of something like this? When I'm old and grey, this will be one of the photos kept around the house so I can look back on one of the peak moments of my musical career.



We were supposed to do the flag retreat too but once again it was rained out. Perhaps I'm a flag retreat jinx!

It was SO HOT, and I felt disgusting and sweaty after each set. But at 90°F today, we are still 10-20 degrees cooler than full summer in Florida. So I'd better suck it up and get used to it and drink LOTS of water.

Before the end of the day one of our stage managers came out to get a picture of the women musicians.
Because today, for the (very likely) first time in the history of the Main Street Philharmonic, 1/4 of the band was made up of women.


Decades. We're talking decades of (likely) never having more than one woman in the band at a time, for it's entire existence. And on top of that, there still has NEVER been a female full-time Main Street Philharmonic band member.

Ya know...I like to think it's because women aren't crazy enough to go marching around in 100-degree weather in Florida all summer :p Joking aside, I felt humbled and happy to be performing alongside these women. And grateful and happy to have these wonderful, professional men showing us the ropes and welcoming us into their space. I think this band is made better, with men and women working in it TOGETHER.

Because we were actually involved in everything the day went quickly. I got home and told Jameson all about my day, and spent the night editing and uploading Keith's videos and responding to kind comments on the socials.

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Wednesday, up at 6am again because I need to start recording my audition and that will cut into my work time.

Pretty much worked up until lunch time, then tried to do audition stuff.

It went...ok. I managed to record two of the four pieces, and though they're not as good as I'd like this will let me spend more time on the other two pieces, which are very jazz/improv and difficult for me. On one hand I felt disappointed with myself and inadequate as a musician--isn't that funny? I just spent a day performing as a paid musician at Disney, a gig that thousands of musicians would kill to have...yet a random last-minute audition, that literally only one other person will ever hear, can instantly crush my self-worth. Ha! Human hang-ups are so funny. All I can do is laugh at myself.

By the time I was done I had a blazing headache. Probably a full day of scorching sun at Disney + marching for approx 7 miles in said sun + getting five hours of sleep + trying to complete a very stressful audition, all in a row, was not a great game plan. I had planned to work for another three hours but had to take a Motrin and lie down. The headache was gone within an hour, but then it was dinnertime.

After dinner I did work on my Disney memorization, but had to give my brain a break after that.

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Tomorrow I'll finish my audition material and send it off, and then I'll be able to tell you what the audition was for.

On Saturday we're planning to pop over to Orlando Fringe to see some of Jameson's friends perform in a show.
I actually have a week off from Disney next week, so I hope for a quiet week of memorization, data entry, and housework.

Thursday was data entry, although I felt very tired and wanted to sleep...could have slept for the whole day.
But instead plugged away to the best of my ability while Jameson went to the gym and worked too.

I practiced disco music for The Florida Orchestra, but not much, and I feel unprepared for them. For this concert I'm relying heavily on my ability to stay calm and sightread, haha. Also their casual-ness about missing pages from my parts, in turn, makes me feel more casual about the whole thing. I learned Elephants on Parade for MSP, it's just a short little snippet of the full song and was easy to learn.

A bit more work but I was psychologically done and needed a break.
Went back to the grocery to get salad ingredients for tonight's quiche, and ran the dishwasher, and assembled the salad. The quiche was easy to put together, but it took an hour to bake.

Cream, local farm eggs, Gruyere cheese, shallots, spinach, cayenne, nutmeg, and a wheat crust.


I was pleased with myself for reducing the shallots in the recipe by half. Many years ago I made this same recipe for us, and some brain cell in the back of my head conveniently recalled that we'd complained of "too many onions." Halving them was absolutely perfect. And it didn't overbake either, it was creamy and the Gruyere was such a beautiful luscious flavor. One of the nicer dinners I've made in a while.

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Friday, I was nervous about the orchestra gig but went about my day as usual.
Checked on the vanilla, and there are definitely THREE beans growing! Success!!

The green things hanging down, with a dead flower on the tips, are the beans.
The yellow things sticking straight up are dead/dying stems from flowers that bloomed but weren't pollinated.


Now they must survive on the vine for eight months. There is no rain forecast for the next 10 days at least and temps in the mid-90s, so I'll have to remember to water them every few days (orchids don't require much water but they need SOME ffs.) And hopefully slugs don't eat the beans, or they don't get chewed off by ants, etc etc.

Did my data entry, practiced MSP music and the orchestra stuff one last time, then after lunch packed up and drove the 1.5 hours to Tampa. I've played at the Straz before so it was easy to find, and the bass trombonist kindly shared the orchestra's free parking code with me! So I got there in plenty of time to set up and meet everyone.


Here's Joel Vaisse, the principal trombonist (and the guy who didn't want to play his disco improv solo, which is why I get to do it haha.) He's a rather renowned French trombonist...according to the site he's been principal trombone of EVERY major orchestra in France!! Good golly. But the first thing I noticed about him was that his trombone case had a huge decal of an alligator + a giant mosquito on it. Inclusion of the mosquito (Florida realism!) convinced me he'd be down-to-earth. And he was! Very welcoming and kind, eager to talk about the orchestra and recent gigs and his experience in Florida so far, and chill about the show and just having a good time with it. His resume may be intimidating, but we're all still just people out here.

And I of course said hello to Harold, the bass trombonist that I performed with on Candlelight and who pretty much single-handedly got me this gig. I thanked him for that, we chatted etc etc, and then it was time for rehearsal.

It went pretty well? I was cautiously pleased with myself, first for getting several difficult rhythms right...I heard Joel botch them a bit and that is NOT to disparage him at all, I had plenty of mistakes all night. What I'm saying is that hearing that I wasn't alone in making some mistakes--realizing the shared difficulty of the music--made me feel more at ease and confident that I was doing an acceptable job among professional orchestra musicians. And I was pleased secondly when it came time for the disco solo and it actually came out pretty well! I got applause from the orchestra and the vocalists up front yelled, "YAAAAAS GIRL TROMBONE!" and the conductor acknowledged me with, "Nice solo!" That felt good :)

After rehearsal Harold and I and some trumpets followed Joel to a Greek place, where we got lovely pitas/gyros and chatted about this and that. There was a lot of time to kill before the show so after dinner we went to a coffee shop and hung out there for at least an hour. I ended up talking about the circus and touring a lot...always happens, the circus is interesting and so is touring. But I also got to hear Joel and Harold swap stories about several TFO concerts that had interesting music or weird stuff that happened, and to hear about the musical experiences of some of the other folks who were with us. Everyone talked a little about their musical and personal backgrounds.

Back at the theatre we got cleaned up and ready for the show.
My spot. Trombones are always in the back. I'm glad, it allows for more goofing off :p
That's Harold on the left.


I was the only woman in the brass section except for a woman on French horn waaaaay down on the opposite side of the theatre.


There's nothing inherently WRONG with the brass section being 98% male. Everyone was kind and professional. But statistically, it does make me a little sad. Did you know that there are NO female trombones in the top 20 American orchestras right now?

(this survey is six years old and is STILL true.)

Anyway, I didn't dwell on it any more than that. There was a lot of audience participation, and everyone seemed to be having a great time! We danced a bit back in the trombone section; I'm glad that Joel and Harold are FUN and not too stuffy. It's important to be professional and perform to the best standard possible, but also this was a disco pops concert with the audience coming up on stage to drink and dance, and it seemed right to relax and enjoy entertaining others!
Most things went well for me, I made more mistakes than I would like none of them were horrible/distracting. My solo came out "just ok" during the show, not as good as the one in rehearsal...but isn't that always the way. I'll have another chance at Sunday's concert.

Afterward we shook hands all around and said "See you on Sunday" and hoofed it to our cars. It was a long drive back and I was tired, but very grateful for this experience. I haven't played an orchestra gig since COLLEGE, and certainly not a UNION orchestra gig. I still don't think I'm "good enough" to be there.

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Saturday didn't feel like the weekend at all. I still had to get up at 7 to work, I once again didn't meet my hours :(
After lunch Jameson went to get his car worked on at the dealership, and I misted the vanilla plant and did a load of laundry and memorized the last piece of "Parade" music for MSP. Next up is one of the "Castle" sets, those will be longer and more difficult pieces, but I have until June to get them in my head.

Jameson had a headache at night so we took it easy.

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Sunday, I didn't set an alarm and woke at the late, late hour of 8:30am. Lol.

Breakfast and after Jameson went to his massage appointment, I cleaned our bathrooms, dusted, practiced MSP music, and washed my small trombone because I'm bringing it to the concert tonight for show-and-tell. My small trombone is a rare Earl Williams model so I always offer it to other trombonists to try or just admire.


Worked for about two hours then chilled and watched the Cubs game with Jameson until it was time for me to start driving. This concert was in a different venue a little PAST Tampa, so the drive is longer but on the other hand I won't have to fight to get out of a parking garage.

Got there just fine, and set up all of my stuff an hour before the concert. Chatted with the other trombonists and people I’ve met here. Joel did play the Williams for a little bit, but he said it's been ages since he played a small bore trombone so he didn't want to mess up his chops right before a concert (completely legitimate and can actually happen!) I should have known, since he's been orchestral all his life, but it was cool of him to check it out; it's a piece of American history! And Harold of course recognized a rare horn when he saw one, but he's a bass trombonist so this was for him to admire and not to play.

And before I knew it it was time to start. Harold again on the left, warming up.


The concert went just fine, just as well as last time. I think my solo was a little better this time as well. Afterward while we were packing up, Harold and Joel suggested a section picture. Red disco lighting :p From left to right Joel, me, Harold, and Joseph on tuba.


I exchanged numbers with the guys at their request, and they expressed interest in having me back for the 24/25 season, which was great! Just grateful that I got to do this at all. It’s been ages since I’ve done an orchestra gig and it was a lot of fun. Biggest thanks to the Candlelight performances and to Harold, who was true to his word.

Driving home was actually lousy, there was construction AND an accident and it took me almost until midnight to get home. Sometimes life is like that.

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By the time you are reading this it’s Monday. Jameson has a meeting in the afternoon, and I’ve promised to make sous vide salmon for dinner, so I’m probably driving to Whole Paycheck first thing in the morning for ingredients and fresh fish.

Other than that it should be a pretty boring day of data entry work and memorization. I have a full day of Disney on Tuesday, but the rest of the week should be quiet.

*Posting early because so much happened that it requires it's own post.*

TRIGGER WARNING: BAD FLIGHT EXPERIENCE / FEAR OF FLYING

I woke up before my alarm to use the bathroom, and although my fever had receded for the moment I had somehow managed to pull a back muscle during the night. It was very painful to bend forward...you know, the movement I'll need to complete ALL DAY today while lifting my 50lb suitcase, 35lb backpack, and 20lb trombone case into Ubers and onto scales. Great! On top of having to travel with a virus. What a joy.

There was nothing that I could do about it, so called an Uber and off I went to the airport.
Checking in and security and all that went smoothly, but at the gate although our plane was there it was delayed because it had been struck by lighting on the way in! Crews were going over the whole plane with cherry pickers and misc equipment. I should have taken a picture. The gate agent said that it was actually considered "routine" for planes to be struck by lightning, but when it happens there are safety processes that need to be completed, which I was absolutely glad to wait for.

The delay ended up being about 3 hours, so I rebooked my connection and called Jim (our company management) to be sure he knew what was going on.

Right here I want to note: this was the first time that I mentioned the possibility of getting a rental car...before the travel day got EVEN WORSE. I suggested offhand that it might be a good option if my SECOND flight was delayed or cancelled due to the INCOMING STORM that had been forecast 72 HOURS AGO and that we could all see was probably going to interfere with flights for the day.

"There's still plenty of time!" said Jim.
I didn't feel confident but didn't say anything, because so far everything was going "moderately ok."

Eventually we started boarding. This was an unusually large model of plane, one of those with a big row of 3 in the middle and rows of two on either side. It occurred to me that I should ask about the Delta pilot trading cards I'd heard about on TikTok (HERE is a link to the video I saw) I asked a random flight attendant...and she knew exactly what I was talking about! She said it was really unusual for this model of plane to be flying domestically (they're usually for international flights) and before I knew it she had popped up to the cockpit and grabbed me a trading card! My first one! They're real!!


These have been around for at least a decade believe it or not, but you have to specifically ask for them. The trading cards were an initiative started by Delta employees who wanted to share their passion for flying with passengers. The designs of the cards are updated every year. I think this is just THE COOLEST. I don't even care about aviation that much but this certainly has me interested to try and collect as many cards as I can!

The flight was unfortunately turbulent due to the storms all over the US, so there were no services offered and we had to stay in our seats. Luckily it was just a short flight to Atlanta. We landed at the farthest possible point from my next gate, so I had to choose: pee, eat, or refill water bottle? I chose "pee,", then rode the ATL airport tram all the way to gate A and got there just as my group was boarding. At the gangway I again remembered to ask the flight attendant about the trading cards, and because we were right next to the cockpit I got to watch as she asked the pilots and one whipped out a trading card right away and handed it to her! I yelled him a thank you which I'm not sure he heard, but other flight attendants exclaimed over the card...several of them had never heard about them either!

Here is the card for my second flight, a 737-900ER.


Feeling good vibes and like the day was off to a decent start, I settled into my seat and got ready for a turbulent but short flight to New Orleans. Little did I know the day was about to get a lot longer, and a lot worse.

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Travel Day From Heck: Part 1

The flight was uncomfortable due to turbulence, plus I hadn't had time to get food or refill my water. I rationed my water and ate a lot of my travel snacks, feeling bad that I didn't have enough to share with my seat-mates. We got all the way to New Orleans...then suddenly everyone's flight monitors updated showing a route to TALLAHASSEE. We got rerouted because NOLA airport had closed due to a nasty incoming storm system (too warm to snow there but tornadoes forming, and hurricane-force winds.)

We were allowed to BRIEFLY deplane in Tallahassee, where I found eight other My Fair Lady folks who were on the same flight! We only had a few minutes so everyone was scrambling to get food and water and pee (I managed all three).

PLEASE NOTE: At this point I texted Jim (company management) and directly asked for a rental car.
"Aren't they going to send you out again?" was his response. At this point I should have listened to my instincts. I should have taken my own safety and wellbeing into my own hands. But other people from my company were waiting for instruction without complaint, and I didn't want to be the squeaky wheel and the outlier who caused an inconvenience.

A few minutes later we reboarded for a second attempt at flying into NOLA. I am a nervous flyer, I get motion sick very easily, so I was worried but figured it was such a short flight, and perhaps the storm system was mostly past and that's why they thought it was worth trying again.

It was very turbulent again...even more turbulent. Frighteningly so.
And then we got to NOLA, and the plane was PITCHING, dipping, lurching. It was nighttime and dark out, no horizon line plus it was absolutely storming out there, and even if there had been a horizon line it would have been dipping crazily everywhere as the plane was pushed around like a toy. We found out later that we had been trying to land in 70mph headwinds (what the actual FUCK.)

I had my eyes squeezed tightly shut and was forcing myself to "go somewhere else" so that I wouldn't go into an absolute meltdown panic attack, or faint. The people around me were not doing much better; the man to my left was doubled over in his seat and the woman to my right clutched the seat in front of her as though her life depended on it.

As the landing gear came out I experienced the absolute worst turbulence I have ever felt on a flight. My entire sense of equilibrium was off, I couldn't tell up from down. G-forces were pulling me up toward the ceiling, then sideways or back down into my seat. It was at this point that I heard people starting to retch and gag. Although it was hard to release my white-knuckle grip that I'd had on my own wrists, I did it and put my hands over my ears to reduce sensory input overall...and to avoid hearing the sounds of people vomiting. Fortunately (I guess), because I was sick with this cold/flu I couldn't really smell any of what was happening, and/or people had been able to grab their barf bags in time.

At this point the plane dipped suddenly and violently, then there was an extreme, crushing amount of G-force that smashed us all into our seats, and the plane seemed to be pulling up almost completely vertical like a space rocket. Some people wailed or screamed. I think that was our first failed attempt at landing, and the pilot pulling back up into the sky where we bounced around again. Then the same thing happened AGAIN, a plunging-toward-the-ground sensation, a second round of intense G-force followed by the sharp vertical pull-up. To me it seemed like we were about to slam directly into the ground, but the pilot got onto the com and lackadaisically suggested that we open up our air vents if we were feeling motion sick, to help get air moving. He sounded not only calm but mildly amused. Good lord.

After that second attempt we went back into moderate turbulence, and the flight path again showed a route to Tallahassee. A flight attendant came through to collect trash/vomit bags, but after that they all had to sit down again because it was still way too turbulent.

You guys. I have NO IDEA how I didn't either pass out from terror, or vomit. I wonder if being sick actually helped somewhat, because my brain was too fuzzy to go into the complete panic that I'd usually feel in such a situation. Or maybe my inner ear was already messed up, making me less nauseous than I would have normally been. Or maybe because I'd scarfed down a big sandwich right before we left, my stomach didn't fill with sloshing acid. Whatever had protected me for this horrific experience, I was grateful beyond words. First of all to be ALIVE, and second of all not to have vomited or fainted. I was shaking like a leaf and sweating, but I think nearly everyone was at that point.

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Travel Day From Heck: Part 2

We landed again in Tallahassee. I was so, so, so grateful to be on the ground. At this point it was late at night (10pm I think?) and Tallahassee is a small airport, so we had to wait while gate agents and crew were gathered so we could get off the plane. Then they told us that if we got off the plane we would not be allowed back on, PLUS our luggage would not be returned to us that night. It was clear that there would be no more attempts tonight, anyway, which thank F*CK.

Our My Fair Lady group gathered on the gangway, and decided to leave the plane with our carry-ons hoping that our company management could figure something out. At this point I'm ashamed to say that I was one of the least-calm people in our group. I have intense flight anxiety on a NORMAL travel day, and now the entire day had been turbulence and terror, and a one-hour flight had turned into a 15-hour ordeal with no end in sight, plus my trombone was in the checked luggage! How was I supposed to do a show without a trombone?! So when Jim (company management) told us to "give it the old college try" on the rescheduled flight the next day...I LOST IT. I could not believe that the expectation was for all of us to be perfectly ok and peachy-keen with flying again after that. And I voiced that, borderline hysterical, to my peers, who listened and to their credit stayed a lot more calm and gave me more deference than I deserved. I apologized for flipping out of course, and they all said they understood that it wasn't directed at them, but I was still letting my anxiety leak out at people who had had just as terrible a day as I'd had, and that wasn't right. I still feel bad about it.

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Travel Day From Heck Part 3 (no, it isn't over, there's EVEN MORE.)

We waited at the airport for at least an hour while the poor gate agent, who was all alone, tried to distribute electronic hotel and food vouchers one-by-one for hundreds of passengers. I never got any vouchers myself, but most of our group did. We were told that the flight was rescheduled for tomorrow at 10:30am. I checked the weather and this is what I saw:


In other words, the same storm system that we had encountered in NOLA was moving east and would be in Tallahassee right when our flight was scheduled to take off. And everyone else was ok with this. I looked around at my peers and could not believe they were nodding and agreeing with this itinerary.

Our company management texted to say they'd gotten us booked at a hotel nearby, so off we went to the luggage carousel downstairs (a crew had been found to take our luggage off the plane after all.) I was thrilled at this because if I had all of my belongings, I was no longer beholden in any way to these crazy company-booked itineraries involving flying into goddamned tornadoes.

But after all of the suitcases had been unloaded, and everyone had their luggage and had called their Ubers to the hotel...my trombone was nowhere to be seen.

I waited and waited, and finally the belt stopped moving. Everyone had left without me. The Delta luggage assistance desk was closed. I circled the airport and asked everyone I could find--security, an American Airlines agent, a TSA agent--where I could look, what I could do. I asked company management for help and they said, "Have you tried asking around?"

Finally I realized that there was nothing I could do, no further recourse I could take that night. It was after midnight and I was so exhausted and stressed to the point of near-hysterics, and could barely think. It was clear that no one was going to help me, except myself. So I fucking did just that. The car rental counter was minutes from closing. I walked up and rented myself one of their last available cars, a minivan, for $150. I threw my suitcase in the back and drove it to the hotel, where I had to wait TWENTY FUCKING MINUTES to check in because there was someone making a scene at the front desk. During that time I texted Abi (company management) to inform her that I'd be DRIVING to New Orleans, so don't make the group wait for me in the morning, etc. Shortly after that Jim called to ask why I was driving, and finally, after all that had happened, I broke down. Through tears, I explained to him that the same storm system that was in New Orleans today was moving east and was supposed to be in Tallahassee tomorrow, right when our rescheduled flight was supposed to take off. Did he REALLY expect me to get back on a plane in the middle of the same storm? REALLY???? He said that he understood and left it at that. At this point I don't really care how needy, emotional, weak, or demanding I sounded. Everyone else seemed perfectly happy to get back on the same plane tomorrow in the middle of a storm. Good for them! Big back-pats and medals all around for being "troopers" and "giving it the old college try" I'm sure. But I had had MORE than enough of putting my safety and wellbeing into the hands of others, and reaping the "rewards" of that today. I was DONE.

I finally got to check in after 1am. Got to my room and was so stressed and tense that it took me another hour to fall asleep.

Right as my eyes were closing, my phone pinged. It was Jim, in New Orleans...holding my trombone.


This is the biggest mystery of the day.
How did my trombone get to New Orleans that night??
My luggage tracker says that it was loaded onto the same plane that I was on, the one that never landed in New Orleans. The last timestamp that I had for it was at 4pm, which was in Tallahassee when we were reboarding for the second attempt at reaching NOLA.


We were only in Tallahassee that first time for about 30 minutes, and we reboarded right at 4pm. So somewhere in there, JUST MY TROMBONE, no other luggage, was pulled off and put on another flight? Or an angel came and spirited it away as we were plunging toward the tarmac in New Orleans? I couldn't believe it, and was awed and grateful.

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Travel Day From Heck Part 4

I woke up around 5:45am, repacked everything, and checked out.

Outside the wind was already high, around 25-35 mph. I checked the weather and saw that there were already tornadoes on the ground along my route. I hesitated, but you know what? I'd rather die on the ground, with my life in my own hands, with some small modicum of dignity, instead of in a tin can in the sky covered in vomit and plummeting toward the ground with my head between my knees. I had let others control my safety all day yesterday, and we can see how that went. Ultimately, I wanted to be treated like a human being and not an inanimate object being moved around on a game board at the convenience of a corporation. And if that's what I wanted, I had to give it to myself, because at this point it was clear that no one else was going to attribute any value to me, except myself.

So off I went while my coworkers slept.


It was scary.


Driving through tornado warnings is not a joke, and it is really no safer than huddling in a hotel or on a plane. But on the ground, you can pull over. You can seek shelter. You have phone service and can call for help. You can pee and eat and drink water when you need to. And most of all, you can avoid an inevitable flight delay. Plus, I am actually a VERY good driver and have a lot of experience driving through severe weather, believe it or not. So I was scared...but I believed in myself, and I trusted myself to pull over if I needed to.
(CLICK HERE for footage of what I drove through.)

I almost pulled over twice, both times when passing through actual tornado warnings. A "Tornado Watch" means tornadoes are possible; a Tornado Warning means there is actually a tornado on the ground somewhere nearby. And oh there definitely was. I couldn't see it, but I had never seen such intense lightning, and the wind was incredible. I was on an interstate so there was enough lighting to see whether debris was on the road. And I stuck close to a line of truckers, keeping a safe distance from them but always keeping their tail lights in my view. When they put their 4-ways on, so did I. And we plodded forward against hurricane-force winds, and we did not see any tornadoes. But I almost pulled over twice because the rain was so hard at those times that my wipers couldn't keep up. That intensity didn't last, so I was able to keep moving forward, somehow.

There were lots of breaks in the weather, as this system was made up of bands, so I stopped several times for coffee or snacks or to pee or stretch my legs.

MEANWHILE, my coworkers who had all stayed behind got up to find out their flight had been delayed, and as the day progressed, the tornado warnings (yep tornadoes still ON THE GROUND) reached Tallahassee, so the entire airport went into lockdown and everyone was herded into the airport stairwells.


As I was nearing the end of my drive around noon, the tornado warnings were lifted and the airport was reopened...but the stairwells had been outside security, so the entire airport had to go back through security screening.


Look at all the fun I missed out on by driving, you guys!
I could have been herded into a cold cement stairwell for an hour, like cattle in a pen!
And made to do TSA security screenings TWICE!
Plus sitting in an airport for three hours while someone else decided how my day would go!
And then having to FLY, again, after all of that!

They did manage to take off around 2pm, and landed in NOLA around 3pm.
By that time I had gone to the grocery store, checked in to the hotel, returned the rental car, and was dead asleep.
So, I don't care that it "worked out in the end."
It is clear to me that I have little value to society, and that overall I'm just another dumb animal, a little cog in a wheel or a plastic game piece to be moved around on a board by people who expect me to "deal with" whatever they decide is "the best option", ultimately, for THEM. But it is MY body, and MY soul, and it has value to ME even if no one else gives two fucks.

Today my employer chose to value the almighty dollar. And I chose to value myself.
And look at that, it paid off.


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After all of that we still had a show to do. I'll probably save that for my usual Thursday post.
Suffice to say that the nap I got before the sound check and show was not nearly enough, but it was better than nothing.

I have been touring for nearly a decade.
I have lived on a moving train for five years, and on a cruise ship for four months, and I have flown hundreds of times.
This was, by far, the worst travel day that I've ever had in my forty years of living.

As I told my sister later on: it was like a real-life nightmare.
Like a frightening dream about the worst flight turbulence; and then not being able to find an important item that you need; and asking people for help but they all just smile and shrug or walk away; and then being chased by a tornado. It was all so over-the-top and bizarre that it felt unreal, a nightmare come to life or like I'd died and been sent to hell.

I hope to never experience a day like that again.

Thursday I could not sleep, adrenaline left over from suddenly rocketing off to do Candlelight.

I literally went from being in my pajamas and curled up under a blanket, to suddenly being on stage in front of hundreds of people, in a suit jacket and slacks, with the Orlando Philharmonic brass section next to me and a several-hundred-voice choir. It was a pretty intense and unexpected gear shift, and it took hours to wind back down afterward and fall asleep.

And we both had to get up early, Jameson for a doctors appointment and me to do data entry because the afternoon would be taken up with fighting the crowds to get Christmas dinner five freaking days in advance, sigh. I hope the broccoli can make it that long.

Whole Paycheck was definitely more crowded than usual but not insanity-level just yet. I was able to get everything on my list, including our traditional beef tenderloin which was a horrifying $33 per pound. It'll feed both of us for a whole week and it's a special day, so it's all right, but seeing that number is a punch to the pocketbook.

Back home, hot tea and as much data entry as I could handle, which wasn't much.
Jameson and I both wrapped our day up with practice, him for Candlelight and me for Spanish church.
Then, cheap grocery store sushi and stale-by-now Christmas chookies and watching Holiday LEGO Masters.

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Friday was so tedious there's really nothing to say about it.
I worked as much as I could, then sometime in the afternoon got fed up.
Wanted to go for a walk, but was unmotivated. Should have practiced for Spanish church, but didn't.
Ended up on the floor with pillows, watching the Hot Ones Christmas special with Jameson.

Eventually we pulled ourselves together to go see "When Love Is Found," a local theater retelling of Muppet Christmas Carol, which several of Jameson's friends were involved in.


It was good fun, pretty much a reading of the script of the movie with a few small cuts, and with ALL of the extended version songs (Eagle Sam has a song, and of course "When Love Is Gone" which was cut after the initial movie release.) There were also a lot of Orlando-and-Disney-centric puns thrown in which were very funny and cute. You could tell that the whole thing had been thrown together kind of last-minute, but it was absolutely sold out (they had to add another showing!) and everyone did a wonderful job.

Afterward we met up with Jameson's friends but didn't keep them long since they had to perform again that night. So we drove home and chatted about our Christmas gigs and listened to TranSiberian Orchestra.

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Saturday I was up at 8am against my will, had breakfast and typed this up before grudgingly doing a little data entry.
There is very little work left to do and no one else is dumb enough to be working, but I have guilt about being behind on my hours AGAIN so wanted to show at least some effort. An hour or so of that, then I got ready for Spanish church, deciding on a similar outfit as I'd worn to Candlelight but just slightly more casual pants (an elastic waistband is so helpful for wind musicians, regardless the size of your waist!)


Megachurch, indeed.

Rehearsal was fine, a little chaotic (the parts don't always line up with the tracks, stuff like that) but we got it done. The trumpet and sax player were both cool, we hit it off and had a good time together. We were multi-generational, so to my left I had Neal (trumpet) sharing about the times he performed with a salsa-merengue band at Studio 54, and to my right was Jeremy (sax) describing how his students were bringing their homemade EDM music to their woodwind lessons...which triggered a discussion among the three of us (Boomer, Elder Millennial, and Gen Z) about the ways in which EDM is an artistic expression, since we all easily agreed that it's NOT original compositions.

For dinner the church gave us a home-cooked meal of shredded chicken, white rice, green lentils, and plantain, which was really good. Why is church food so GOOD. We chatted as we ate, getting to know each other. Neal, is a retired New Yorker who picks up gigs here and there, and who has an annual pass for Disney so that's where he'll be spending both Christmas and New Year's. Jeremy has just finished school for education/teaching but is enjoying gigging around Orlando; he especially prefers wedding bands and corporate gigs.

When it was time to play we had a short prayer with the padre, then marched onto the stage.
The service was only an hour, and it was lovely.

A still shot of the horn section that I grabbed from the livestream:


My close-up. We each got one but Jeremy was not playing on his and Neal actually had MANY close-ups, I will leave it up to him to pick his favorite :p


This church seats 6,000, and there certainly were not that many people that night, but there were still a LOT so it was a beautiful sea of candles during Silent Night.




If you'd like to hear us play, here's the service clipped to where the horns come in for Feliz Navidad around 26:35.
(CLICK HERE to watch)

Afterward they gave us not only our pay, but a lovely little gift bag with some chocolates, stickers, and other cute fun little treats. How nice! I'm so grateful that I got to play for this church again. It was a Merry Gigmas, as musicians say ;)

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Sunday I woke in a tizzy because it's Christmas Eve day!! And I just realized, I didn't get anything for dessert!

I guess I was thinking that we'd still have cookies, but we've banged through them pretty quickly.
Plus, after eating an expensive beef tenderloin, we should have an equally special dessert prepared just for the holiday!
I knew exactly what to make: Egg Nog Pie a la B. Dylan Hollis.
(CLICK HERE for the recipe via TikTok)

I went to the grocery right after breakfast, and fortunately it was not totally insane yet.
However there was NO NOG to be found. Not surprising, really, and I was kicking myself all the way through Publix No.1, followed 20 minutes later by Target, then Publix No.2 where I finally found a small bottle neglected behind some creamer.
So it took an hour to get eggnog on Christmas Eve. Note to self. Don't last-minute the eggnog.

Back home I did as much prep as I could for Christmas day meals: mixed up the horseradish sauce, separated some eggs for Japanese pancakes, and set out the necessary cooking tools (mixer, griddle pan, spatula, etc.) I had to wait 4 hours for the Cool Whip to thaw, but when that was ready I made the eggnog pie too, adding a splash of spiced rum and real grated nutmeg on top.


At least if I ruin Christmas dinner, we'll have half a pie each!

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By the time you see this post it'll be Monday, Christmas Day!
I hope you're not reading this on the holiday. Go be with your family :p

In closing, a record of my gift-giving for this Christmas:

Jameson:
- Milk carton-shaped drinking glass w/bendy straws
- Chicken feet socks
- Misc stocking stuffers (pistachio nougat, a slime, a Koosh, a banana bread beer, high-quality chocolates, etc)
- Small gift cards for DoorDash, Xbox, and Taco Bell
- "World's Worst Assistant" by Sona (Conan O'Brien's assistant)
- Box of mystery dehydrated candies from PoppinCandy on TikTok
- Gift card for PoppinCandy (because they sell a LOT more than candy)
- Gift card for Re-pop novelty store because they sell rare pop culture collectibles
- Goose Creek Little Debbie Strawberry Shortcake candle (arriving late)
- The Big Gift: $100 gift card for Just Meats, which I'm hoping will be a good replacement for HelloFresh for him.
- The pleasure of my company, and an eggnog pie :p

My sister Kayle & her family:
- Gift card for PA General Store, so she can have all her favorite PA treats delivered to her out in Colorado!
- Wonka chocolate toothpaste (gag gift, she has three kids so can experiment on them lol)

My sister Kate & family:
- Two mugs, one vintage/rare, one specially made by an Etsy artist (she asked for mugs and asked for "nothing" this year)
- Wonka chocolate toothpaste

My sister Raven:
- Gift card to L'appartement 4F, Brooklyn bakery known for their viral mini croissant cereal
- Gift card to King Arthur Baking store
- Chocolate toothpaste

My brother Jonah & his girlfriend:
- Tickets to an upcoming EDM concert in Philly (his girlfriend's idea)
- Exclusive access to the club at the EDM concert (my idea, his girlfriend doesn't know I added that :p)
- Chocolate toothpaste

Gifts to myself because I'm SELFISH:
- Sandwich cookie-shaped pillow (cannot WAIT for this to show up!)
- Replacement stegosaurus knit hat (I ruined my other one in the wash)
- July (that's the brand) lifetime warranty carry-on luggage, made in Japan (this is tbd, waiting to see if someone gets it for me but I doubt it)

To put this 36-hour Disney Candlelight rehearsal trip in perspective:

Salt Lake City to Orlando is 3107km:


Orlando to Madison is 1784km:


That's 4891km (or 3039 miles) in 36 hours.

I woke up at 4am and took a cab to SLC airport, sort-of dozed on the plane, and made it to Orlando in about four hours. Jameson fetched me from the airport and we went to Keke’s Breakfast Cafe, a great Florida chain that sadly has been bought by Denny’s, meaning it’s soon going to become garbage. Case in point, I have memories of fluffy pancakes and perfect eggs at Keke’s, and today we had to agree that our chicken and waffles were just “meh.” Mostly everything was very dry, and although it was good, it didn't taste as fresh as the Keke's we knew and loved.

At home I scrambled to do a load of laundry, repacked my suitcase with more winter things, gave Jameson his presents from the German bakery, and prepared for the rehearsal I’d jumped two time zones to make. I very much wanted a nap but can never make myself calm down enough for one.

Eventually it was 7:30pm, time to drive over to Disney Health Services, where I queued up with other musicians for a hearing test. Disney provides these tests to any employee that works in loud environments. When it was my turn I was put in a booth almost exactly like this, where I listened to a variety of tones and mashed a button every time I heard something.


The administrator said that my hearing was “high end of average”, which is great. Next we all had to complete a huge series of training modules about PPE and aerosoles and intellectual property and god knows what else because at this point I was 18 hours into my day, running on 3 hours of sleep, and my brain was melting out of my ears. We had all started around 8:30, and by the time training was done it was nearly 11pm, so we hustled over to “the Trap Room” which is kind of like a break room for entertainers.

On the way, this is what the Epcot ball looked like. Cute swirly marble. (CLICK HERE to see)

From there to the stage where we launched right into a full run of the show.

(Stock image from DisneyLists.com. We can never take or share photos of rehearsals.)

The reason Disney holds entertainment rehearsals after the park closes is because they don’t want guests hearing, seeing, or documenting any rehearsal processes and/or shows that haven’t been revealed to the public yet. The only way for them to accomplish this (especially when almost all of the stages are outdoors) is to wait until the park is empty. We did three sessions, each a full run-through of all of the music with three different conductors, and with musicians rotating in and out. I had to attend all three sessions because this was the only rehearsal I could make, but other musicians only had to attend one or two tonight because they’ll be involved in more overnight rehearsals in coming days.

As a result of these rotations I got to meet four trombonists and a tuba player, some of whom I knew from social media and others who were new to me. Everyone was friendly and patient, which is just the vibe you need when slamming through a full show in the wee hours lol. By the end of the second set (around 1:50am I think) I was really feeling that I had been awake for close to 24 hours. I definitely made more mistakes than I normally would on simple Christmas music, but let's just say I was not alone, and it was very understandable.

And despite being deeply tired, I very much appreciated being there. So much, you guys. That I was able to participate at all was a miracle of timing. And this was my first time ever doing actual work as a Disney employee. I may not ever get called to work for them again after this, but I had today, this one day.

I looked around at the lovely Christmas-decorated stage, and the choir singers doing their absolute best, and the conductors showing such enthusiasm, and it really was heartwarming to think of how much effort everyone was putting into this rehearsal, and how it would make the final show great :)

Finally we were done and I was free to stumble home.
On the way out of the park I found another of the Danville, PA vintage mailboxes! (mentioned previously HERE.)
Now I had better bring a letter to send the next time I'm in Epcot, which will be December 6th to see Jameson play Jollywood!


Back at home I fell into bed and slept for a scant 2.5 hours before having to get up again and catch a cab to the airport for the flights to Madison. Everything was on time and went smoothly, and I even got an exit row seat so was able to nap a little better on the longer flight. A layover in Chicago wherein I got lunch and walked around and sucked down coffee to stay awake, then a final short flight to Madison where I retrieved my stuff and got an Uber to the hotel. It's the same hotel where we stayed for Tootsie just a year ago. Kinda cool to be in a city soon enough to remember where things are!

Despite being tired I went to get groceries so I could have dinner and a good breakfast tomorrow.
Then I unpacked and typed this up and went to sleep VERY early indeed, around 7:30pm.

What a wild ride. And all for one rehearsal.

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Random shoutout to this EXCELLENT SKB trombone case. I've had to check my trombone three times now, and the case has held up fantastically and my instrument has always come back to me safe and sound. Here it is sitting on top of god-knows-what-else before being loaded onto my United flight.

I felt lowkey lousy on Monday, likely due to stress and having pinched some nerve somewhere while carving pumpkins. The joys of getting old I suppose, hunching over a big gourd with your arm in the air for two hours is no longer a thing you can do without consequences.

I got up early because I wanted to take a trip to the Millenia Mall area, which is about a 30 minute drive.

My main reason for going was to get Jameson an early birthday present, a bottle of Parce rum (he likes it a lot, mainly because the Cubs endorse it but it IS pretty good.) I also saw a mid-sized bottle of Skrewball peanut butter whiskey so got that too (our local stores have either a really big bottle or the tiny single-shot bottles and nothing in between)

Side-quest 2: getting a foam cone from a craft store. You know, the green ones that you are supposed to stick flowers into or stick into vases or whatever. They make a great packing material for trombone bells, to protect them during shipping or transit. You just stuff one in the bell, ideally wrapped in a thin cloth or something. Got that at Hobby Lobby and enjoyed looking around a bit and listening to their Christian music (howevermuch I may roll my eyes, it does make me nostalgic for childhood and home) then moved on to Target for oatmeal and a black towel for the pit. Got the oatmeal but small black hand towels were freaking $13 so screw that.

Then to a Dollar Tree hoping to find cheap flip flops for hotel rooms (success) and a stiff-sided tote bag for my mutes (fail.) What's frustrating is that I HAD all of these things, but was not offered a tour after Tootsie ended so assumed I wasn't going back out, and left a lot of useful stuff in our last hotel room with a "FREE PLEASE TAKE" sign on it. At least it was cheap stuff.

Anyway, final side-quest was a trip to The Container Store. I've never been to one but was really hopeful to find a good food box. You can get rectangular Sterilite containers at Target or Walmart, but I've had two of those shatter in my luggage because the plastic is brittle/cheap and the lids don't latch well either. Plus I hate that they have tapered sides, with the tops wider than the base, that makes them really annoying to pack. There were soooo many containers of the almost-right size. I finally found what I wanted in the food section: a 6-quart container that was more square than rectangle, made of a thick and less rigid plastic (good for taking hits and shocks inside luggage) and with a lid that latches on four sides instead of two.

The only thing that I did not find today was the stiff tote bag and the black towel.
Back home, unpacked everything and showed Jameson the liquor so he'd know to enjoy it, then tried out the new food box.
It's great! Plenty of room for all of my stuff, and the shape is much more convenient. I hope it survives well.

New container on left, old one on right. Believe it or not they are nearly the same size, just different shapes.


I ate lunch and went back to re-packing, weighing my luggage again because it somehow got overweight from adding misc food items and trying to add my pea coat back in. By the time I was done my luggage was how I wanted it but I had a blazing tension headache...and I'd forgotten about therapy!! Luckily I was only a few minutes late.

This was my last therapy session, and it ended "not with a bang but a whimper."
The therapist reached me from some very public place with a lot of noise in the background, it was clear that neither of us really had time or attention for this today, but he knew it was likely my last session so wanted to reach out and wish me luck, see how I was feeling, etc. Right at that moment I was feeling like my head was gonna crack like an egg, but I ignored it and thanked him for everything, and promised to reconnect if I rejoined BetterHelp in the future. He really was an excellent therapist, and I learned a great deal that I think will be helpful. I canceled my BetterHelp subscription right after our session.

In the evening after Jameson left for rehearsal, I had a glass of cheap wine and decided to go for a walk even though the sun was nearly down. I don't usually walk this late...it was nice despite being SO hot and humid. The streets were empty and quiet; every time I stepped on a fallen acorn the snap of the breaking shell echoed and bounced off the houses.


Along the way I found this toad. He was absolutely horrified by me so I didn't hold him hostage long.


I took a shorter route than usual because it was quite dark, and because I had mostly wanted to think, not exercise.

Somehow this tour snuck up on me. Like, part of me never accepted that it was really happening. It took months and months to finalize that I was actually signed on, and then all of the Disney Candlelight stuff, and then data entry day after day, neverending...it never felt real this time. And so a part of me is upset and frantic when it shouldn't be, like as though this is all happening too fast. Well it's not. I have everything that I need, and if I don't I can just buy it, and there are people to help me and guide me once I'm there, and I know the music as well as I can. I am as prepared as I can be, and the only thing left is to go Do The Thing.

Just as I was getting back to the house I noticed a streak of reddish light in the sky.
A rocket launch.


Back home, typing this up and doing my last load of laundry. God I'll miss having regular access to a washer and dryer.

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Tuesday, Jameson's overnight Disney rehearsal went until nearly 2:30am, so we both slept in as hard as we could.
I was still up at 8:30am, but didn't eat breakfast until nearly an hour later. Coffee was enough.

Drove to Dollar General and Lo! They had the stiff-sided totes! The exact same pattern that I had previously, even. Score.
I also popped into Publix for my Travel Bagel and Travel Apple because they may save my ass if there's no time to grab lunch. Back home, REALLY packing this time. Everything into the suitcase and weighed. 48 pounds, which isn't great but not terrible considering I usually travel with two suitcases.

Then I practiced one last time, going over trouble spots, and wiped down and packed up my trombone, taping the outer latches shut. Only the middle latch locks so I made sure to do that. The trombone case is so much larger this time that I assume it has to be checked, which I don't like but it can't be helped. The one good thing in all this is I'll get to walk through the airport with just my backpack. What a dream!


The rest of the day seemed to fly by. I didn't do a lot...I felt distracted. Perhaps worked on Foodie Finds a bit, and watched anime, and didn't dust the bookshelf like I'd said I would.

We had no trick-or-treaters...sadly this is a vacation rental area, so people take their kids elsewhere knowing the majority of houses here won't be occupied at this time of year.

We watched the finale of The Fall of the House of Usher. It was such a good series, I'd definitely watch it again.
And then suddenly it was time for bed.

Am I ready? Sheesh. I don't know.

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Not surprisingly, I slept pretty poorly.
I was up at 5:45 to get dressed and make a cup of coffee, and have some time to myself.
Jameson got up at 7 and got me to the airport, where we hugged goodbye. I hate that part.

Security was way faster than usual, so I had time to eat a small breakfast before the first flight.
The flight was on time but the layover in DFW was so short that I had to run to the next terminal, and was one of the last people on the plane. Not many people going to Boise, though, so there was plenty of room on the plane and we all got to move around a bit. And both flights were very smooth and comfortable.

And my trombone made it safely! Yay! Glad I invested in a good case :)
It looks like the TSA may have done a little inspection of it, too. I've never gotten a sticker like this before.
Wonder if they were disappointed to find a boring trombone in there.


I Ubered to the hotel, and was surprised to arrive right when the tour bus pulled up with the cast!
They bussed over from Logan, Utah where rehearsals have been going on for the past several weeks. 
It was strange to be a part of this tour, yet not know anyone. But on the way to our rooms I got to introduce myself to a few people, and that was nice. Tomorrow we're supposed to have a company dinner, and maybe I can make some connections there.

I texted the MD to see if the band had any work to do. Nope!
So it was off to the grocery! Not just any grocery: Boise Co-op!


It was within easy walking distance, and the weather was lovely, dry and chilly and fall-like.
Ah, I've been craving this!

The co-op was great. Expensive, but that's kinda the thing: whether you shop at Walmart or a co-op, you get what you pay for.


Celery root! It was the size of a dodge ball!


What the heck are kiwi berries? I'd never heard of them before so had to get 'em.
Turns out they're just a mini variety of kiwi that you can eat whole. Yum!


I got some beautiful-looking bok choy and some maple roasted squash, and all of my usual tour groceries, and a bunch of local goodies to try!


I haven't tried anything but the bread so far. It was DELICIOUS.
Chewy, crunchy crust. Super-fluff interior. Pieces of rosemary evenly distributed throughout the dough. Wonderful!
And we have toasters in our rooms too. I sense some yummy herb turkey melts in my future.


I spent the rest of the night unpacking and remembering how tour life goes.
By the time 9pm rolled around I felt exhausted, but tried to stay up as late as I could.
Gotta adjust fast to that time change.

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

And so it begins.

Tomorrow the band has rehearsal for most of the day, then we have the full company dinner.
I'm nervous, but hopeful.

Thursday I woke up to find that I had about 12 new foodies in my Foodie Finds group for My Fair Lady.
By lunchtime I had 21!


Considering that this is my first year on this tour and I don't know anyone yet, that's excellent.
Even on Tootsie after two years of touring, I only ended up with about 30 people by the end of the tour.
This group also seems more talkative; my phone has been pinging all afternoon with recommendations already!

My substitute trombonist also finally got back to me about his flight preferences, so I got that purchase out of my face, plus his hotel room. Losing the money hurts, but not as much as losing two weeks of work on the unlikely chance that Disney "might" call. I mean, if I get to play Candlelight once it'll at least have been worth the experience. But right now I feel pretty discouraged about it, and don't think they will.

Anyway, it felt good to have that done.

For dinner I made us mini muffin tin quiches, six were ham and gruyere, six were spinach and onion and gruyere.
I'd meant to take a picture but it took me SO LONG to make them that I was starving and fed up by the time they were done.
There had barely been enough egg mixture to cover the filling and I'd panicked, thinking my muffing tin was weirdly sized or something, when really what happens is the eggs expand substantially so it's a non-issue. WELP now I know for next time.

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Friday, I still had three hours of work to do so got up early to get it out of my face.

I have been sleeping very poorly lately, waking up stressed and worrying that something is wrong, and then having to calm down enough to fall back asleep. I wonder if this will get better when I'm on tour again? Does it have to do with job stress, health stress, upcoming tour stress, financial stress, all of the above? I'm not sure. I just want to have a full night's sleep. It's been ages.

After the work I went to the grocery because there are many things that I want to make for us this week.
Jameson will be in Disney rehearsals all week, so the least I can do is cook dinners.
And especially since I'll be gone again soon, I want to give him some home cookin'.

Trying to emulate "fall" even though it was 90°F today, I decided to make us a treat:

Brown Butter Bourbon Smoked Sea Salt Rice Krispie Treats.



Jameson's mom made us something like this last Christmas. Hers had either thyme or rosemary in them, I forget.
These are just like regular Rice Krispies except you brown the butter first, add a tablespoon of bourbon (I additionally subbed out a little of the bourbon for vanilla), and sprinkle with sea salt when you're done.


I used Maldon smoked sea salt because we have a box left over from another recipe.
The crystals are very large and flat; they kind of make me think of snowflakes, if snowflakes were ever square.

(I stole this pic from somewhere online.)

The result of brown butter, bourbon and smoked salt was nutty, savory, smoky flavors.
Such a massive improvement over plain Rice Krispie Treats!
I would make these again, and I WOULD add thyme next time.

I practiced the entire first act of My Fair Lady, and it went pretty well.
For dinner we had pizza and air fryer wings.

Jameson played Cocoon, which is so beautiful to watch, while I worked on Foodie Finds.

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Saturday was a special occasion because we went to brunch at Lazy Dog :p

Before that I did some Foodie Finds work and swept the pool patio while Jameson worked, then around 11am we were off.

I got the avocado egg toast and Jameson had a bacon egg and biscuit sandwich.
As always I love eating out with my favorite person!

But we agreed afterward that the food hadn't been anything special, and actually it came out very quickly...like, too quickly. And was not very hot. Like it had been premade. And looking at the menu, we realized that there were no foods that noticeably HAVE to be made to order, i.e. pancakes, eggs Benedict, French toast, etc.

Lesson learned. But hey, the drinks were tasty.

From there we went to Men's Wearhouse one town over because Jameson had a gift card and needed a Christmas-colored tie for Jollywood. He went with green. There was a World Market next door so I insisted on popping in there for a mini spatula (did not find one) and some travel condiments for tour. World Market sells tiny bottles of olive oil, vinegar, sriracha, maple syrup, etc that really come in handy as well as snack foods that you can't find anywhere else. Jameson had fun in the British and Japanese candy aisles while I picked out lemon-flavored oil, tinned asparagus and artichoke hearts, dried mullberries, and orange ginger candies.

Back home I felt REALLY tired, probably because I'm not really a day drinker + big meal, so had a little chill time.
Then I dusted the house, practiced My Fair Lady, and wrote a letter to my grandma.
Somewhere in there my new trombone case showed up. My trombone already has a case, but it's made of wood and is VERY heavy and is not really intended for travel. This new case is hardshell plastic, much lighter and made by a company that specifically designs cases for travel. It's not "the best" that I could have gotten, but it'll do for my needs.

Old case is brown, new case is grey. The brown case weighs as much empty as the grey one does with the trombone in it.



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Sunday was the anniversary of my dad's death due to covid (most of the posts on this are Friends Only, here's one that isn't), so I made sure to text my sisters and stepmom and offer emotional support/a shoulder/an ear should it be needed today.

A cold front came through, so for once, for ONCE, it was below 70°F for most of the day before noon. With overcast skies and a gentle breeze. It did make me miss Pennsylvania, and fall and winter weather, and frankly being someplace where it's comfortable to be outside...a sensation that I now associate with either past memories, or travel.

When Jameson got up he stepped outside and breathed deeply, then opened the door so we could get fresh air through the screen. It was very nice to have a cool breeze while listening to my nursing home interviews, and made me VERY anxious to go for a walk. So we went for one! After lunch. I didn't take pictures because we spent it talking about the upcoming holidays; family drama; Jameson's gigs and his slacker students; my upcoming tour.

You know, sometimes I'm amazed that we both work from home, and spend nearly 24/7 around each other, but never seem to get fed up with each other. I know he gets annoyed with me sometimes, and I him...but maybe it's the fact that we are aware of it, and try hard not to annoy each other.

Anyway, the rest of the day was normal except I excused myself from trombone practice because I felt the walk should take priority. For dinner I made an apple cheddar-stuffed chicken breast recipe that I found online, which tasted good but wasn't one of the best things I've made. Then Jameson finished Cocoon (it was only a short game) and I worked on Foodie Finds. I'm nearly done, finally. Running very behind on it.

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This week I'll do my regular data entry work, but I'll also need to start doing a lot more.
Practicing every day; beginning to pack for tour; ordering/buying any necessities; doing as much housework as I can; booking upcoming flights and hotels; planning for the holidays. Oh, and Jameson's birthday is coming up too!

Goals this week:

- 30 hours of work
- Finish Foodie Finds for the whole tour
- 1 hour per day practice
- 50% of suitcases packed
- 2 cleaning chores
- 1 yardwork chore
- Cooking 2 dinners

...I'm sure I'm forgetting something.