goofball on a train

(IMPORTANT: I was asked by my third-party employer to remove an IG story last night, simply because I added a picture of the Epic Universe logo.

Since the IG story in no way violated my NDA, I'm going to choose to continue sharing already-public information in this blog, such as press media or articles that any of you could easily look up yourselves.

THAT SAID: if my posts start becoming more scanty or if you see them edited after being shared publicly, understand that there's a lot of pressure to keep pretty much everything confidential until the park opens. It's annoying, I'm annoyed too, but that's how it is. Thanks.)

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Thursday was a difficult commute. I got cut off by a pickup on an exit ramp causing me to brake hard and spill coffee all over (luckily just in my cupholders but it was a big puddle in there) so had to then stop at Wawa to clean it up, which made me late to Universal, which was slammed with another orientation so it took me nearly 20 minutes to find VERY far away parking, practically run to security only to find a line out the door, and finally get through to rehearsal.

This is the second day in a row I've been late-by-my-standards (I was not even five minutes late but I do not like to be late AT ALL) so I'll be getting up extra early tomorrow to ensure that I'm there at a reasonable time.

The day continued to be crummy for me, I had bad headache and we spent the day mostly running the music which was deafening in the small rehearsal room. I can't wait for this weather to clear up so we can rehearse outside. I wore earplugs and took Motrin and made it through.

Partway through the day we got to do some run-throughs. Three of us were chosen to do both run-throughs, and tbh I felt sore about it. But I can understand that our show director probably wanted to put forth those of us with the highest energy and stage chemistry, which is definitely not me. Had to chide myself a bit and remember that a year ago, or five years ago, I never would have even attempted perform as an actor much less actually WANT to be on stage acting in front of an audience! For god's sake, I've never even been brave enough to try karaoke, and here I am whinging that I didn't get asked to act today. It's a miracle that I've been asked to act at all. Besides, we'll all have a chance to perform before our five weeks are up.

Well I did get over it pretty quickly, and was glad to work on other things for the rest of the day.
Traffic getting home was terrible, it took me over an hour to drive the 18 miles. Luckily I'd already promised myself a day off from trombone practice. Caught up with Jameson, packed lunch for tomorrow, and enjoyed typing this blog and watching One Punch Man.

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Friday! So glad to be at the weekend!

Aerial photo of the park. Ministry of Magic is the big white building(s) squatting to the right of the hotel (the hotel is the one top-center with all the gold domes on top.)

(photo publicly available on orlandoparkstop.com)

Close-up of the Ministry of Magic/Place Cachée. Place cachée is French for "hidden place" and it's the wizarding portion of Paris in the 1920s. Similar in concept to Diagon Alley.

(photo publicly available on orlandoparkstop.com)

Today made up for how crummy Thursday had been.

I got to do two full run-throughs!
Our show director pulled me aside before the first one to ask if I was ready...and maybe to fret a little himself about whether I was ready. I said, "Look, I've never acted before, but I've performed on stage before, at other theme parks. I'm not gonna embarrass you." He laughed at that and let me go on. I had my book off to the side, and did reach for it several times when the nerves got to me, but never managed to get it on the right pages so it didn't really help! But I had been so close to being "off-book" at that point anyway that it didn't matter. There were a few spots where I forgot my music but I just laid out in those small moments. Speaking from musical experience, it's better to lay out than try and make something up and sound bad.

For the second run, it started off as just another rehearsal behind closed doors to help us feel more comfortable. I'd left my book all the way across the room because since it was just us rehearsing, I figured it'd be a good time to ACTUALLY try going off-book.

And so OF COURSE that's when a line of important-looking Universal execs walked in to watch.
Thanks a lot, Murphy's Law!

But you know what, I went on like they weren't there and just did my very best, like I had already planned to do whether they'd been in the room or not. And afterward they smiled and said, "Great job," and left.

You guys,
today was the first time
in my life
that I have ever acted.
At all.

I got up in front of 30-some people and did a xx-minute show as an imaginary person.
Younger Me would NEVER.
I guess we really do change as we get older.
I was nervous, but I didn't CARE that I was nervous. I just felt nervous and DID IT.

And after the first run, lots of people made a point to tell us that we did a great job including our show director.
Honestly it is so crazy to think about, now that I've done it.
Whatever happens from here, I'm grateful to have had this experience.

Also, I am now the first person in our cast to go completely off-book!
Some folks have memorized the music but not the lines, or vice versa. I'm the first to do a whole show with no book at all.
That did make me feel good today :)

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Saturday, I was thrilled to have a day ooooooofffff!!!
I do look forward to rehearsals but it's been a very intense two weeks, and breaks are very much needed and appreciated.

Woke up at 7:30 and breakfast and anime, and when Jameson got up to go to the gym I went out for bagels and groceries, came home and cleaned the bathrooms, and started to practice bass trombone but my lips are rather chapped and I've played for six days straight so decided it was OK to not touch the trombone today at all.

Instead I was a burrito in the sun.


Jameson's car appointment took longer than expected (don't they always) so I was very lazy. Stayed wrapped in my burrito blanket, dozed a bit, had some tea and snacks, watched YouTube videos, and enjoyed the quiet of the house. Jameson eventually came back with dinner and we watched Traitors and more splatting in front of the TV. An email went out asking all of us to have our music fully memorized by Monday, which gives some people only a day and a half to get it in their brains, and that's not even counting the script. I feel relieved to not have to worry about it but bad for the people who do. People can't be expected to memorize at the same pace, and we all have other jobs and lives outside of this new theme park that take time away from that, too. We'll see who's able to get it done by Monday, but stragglers should not be made to feel bad if they don't meet this sudden deadline.

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Sunday, it's finally getting back above 60°F (15.5°C) and sunny. Hooray!

Slept in "late" to 8am, breakfast and packing my lunch for Monday.
Jameson got up and went to the gym and while he was gone I practiced bass and did a run-through of my Epic Universe stuff just to make sure it's solid for Monday. When Jameson got back we had lunch, then it was so nice out that I just had to go for a walk. The neighborhood is quiet because there are fewer tourists this time of year, plus the animals are still in hiding from the cold. So it was just me and the sun and the breeze.

For dinner we went to a K-Pot that's popped up in Margaritaville nearby. We haven't been out to eat together in too long. I forgot my phone which is a shame because no pictures, but it's just as well because this is the type of thing where you're cooking your own food and we had stuff spread all over the table, not to mention sputtering oils on the grill and sauces dripping and yada yada.

Here are some stock photos from the KPot site so you can get an idea, if you've never done this. You have a pot of boiling broth, in which you place meats and veg and noodles and dumplings, simmering them together until they're tender. Then there's a little round grill which you baste in oil before adding your thinly-sliced meats or veggies. There's a sauce bar where you can use premade sauces or make your own, to season your food before grilling.


Jameson got a spicy seafood broth and I went with a fragrant herb broth. He did shrimp, octopus, different cuts of beef, mushrooms, and dumplings. I did spicy white fish, brisket, bok choy, pumpkin, and dumplings. I made us a sweet-hot peanut sauce that was BOMB, we ended up dipping almost all of the brisket in it. We each had a drink too.

It was lots of fun, and I ate WAY more than usual but it's so rare for me to overeat that once in a while will do me no harm. Plus, I think this is relatively healthy considering you're not adding butter or dairy and everything is boiled or grilled.

Went home to digest and rest up, because here comes the last week of January.

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This week we'll be outside for most Epic Universe rehearsals, weather and construction permitting. I have nothing special planned, just rehearsing all day, practicing Disney stuff after rehearsals, and trying not to worry about the political turmoil...looming like a distant tsunami which will inevitably, unequivocally roll ashore and impact us all.

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

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

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

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

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

Breakfast, and off to Epic Universe rehearsal again.


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(photo from discoveruniversal.com)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nice, normal night.

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

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

( Universal Orientation! )

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

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

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

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

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

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


Before and after of the area around the pool.


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

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

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

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

I was of course very nervous on Sunday morning, up too early before my audition. Had a normal breakfast, sort of looked over the music (I can't practice while Jameson is sleeping), and killed time until it was time to head out.

(stock image)

The audition site was easy to find, at the Universal HR building. My instrument and phone were put through a scanner, and I was given some paperwork (a nondisclosure and a basic info form for the audition panel) which I filled out and returned, then was released into the HR lobby to wait. Several other trombonists were there ahead of me warming up and whatnot. Andrea (the only other professional female trombonist in Orlando apparently) was there too. We chatted nervously while we warmed up our instruments and giggled over our lousy faux French accents. Damn nice to have another woman in the warm-up room!

I'd only waited about 10 minutes before I was called to the audition space, a separate building but a short walk away. I was taken to the "backstage" area where one trombonist was getting measured for potential costumes, another was waiting for his turn at measuring, and a third was in the middle of his audition behind closed doors (we could still hear him.) It's inappropriate to ask what takes place during the audition, so instead I asked Waiting Trombone Guy how it went for him and he gave me "meh." The trombonist ahead of me came out and queued up for measurements, and then it was my turn.

I walked into the bright white room. There were 5-6 people sitting at the table across from me (was too nervous to count 'em.) I smiled and said, "Bonjour, mon amis!" which was one of the phrases the dialect coach had suggested. I recognized three people on the audition panel.

The next several minutes went like this:

- Played a short "can-can" piece, which went pretty well until I messed up counting my rests (but was told rest-counting hadn't been required anyway.)
- Played "When The Saints Go Marching In," which was our improv piece. I played the melody once, then had to improvise over two choruses. I did mediocre at this.
- Played a "ritz"-style excerpt. It wasn't perfect, but I think it was the best part of my audition. There were a lot of tricky rhythms, plus it was fast. Waiting Trombone Guy had said they'd cut him off partway through his ritz, we heard the guy who went before me get cut off as well, and later while I was getting measured I heard Andrea get cut off before the end. But they let me finish the whole thing, which was vaguely encouraging...no idea if it means anything.
- Was asked to hit a nearby snare drum with a stick in time to taped audio, to show that I could keep a steady tempo.
- Was asked to read a chunk of script. It was one we'd practiced with the dialect coach the night before. I made sure to move away from the music stand and try to evoke some stage presence. Though I didn't look away from the script for fear of losing my place, I did keep my right hand free to do dramatic gestures, and kept a smile on my face.
- Did some simple movements with a member of the audition panel, who stood next to me to demonstrate each movement. One was a simple can-can kick, another was that little side-to-side foot shuffle that people do at weddings when they want to dance but aren't dancing (lol), and the third one was a basic Charleston.

And that was it!

I went backstage and was measured all over...I mean all over, hips and torso and wrists and head and everything. Then I was led back to the HR lobby where I collected my things and peaced out. Phew.

Overall this went better than a lot of auditions I've had in the past. I was terrified, shaking and sweating, but the cruel and demeaning voice in my head that usually tears me apart any time I make a mistake was blessedly quiet this time. Usually my nerves get worse and worse over the course of an audition, until I'm openly trembling and barely able to play. This time I'd make a mistake and get nervous, but would be able to move ahead without the past mistake affecting the next part of the audition. A small improvement/victory.

They want to start onboarding whoever they pick within the week, so I should know results in the next three days.

I got home in time to help Jameson remove his cast!
Underneath were three incisions, all stitched up. One is on the back of his elbow, one on top of it, and another at the heel of his hand.


Wish I'd thought to take pictures of all the wrappings, because there were a lot. After he was uwrapped he enjoyed his first shower since Tuesday (eew poor guy), and I washed the bedsheets so he could feel fresh and clean tonight too :) We covered his incisions in large band-aids as instructed, and will change them out each day. We had lunch, I'd intended to practice but didn't feel like it, and then my first transcription job of the new year showed up anyway so I got started on that instead!

Jameson is feeling down about the scars that he'll have from his surgery. I suppose he didn't know how big they'd be, and right now they are of course very visible. Having survived a dog attack when I was middle school-aged, I have large scars on my left shoulder, punctures and slashes that could never fade even with scar reduction cream. So I understand how he feels. Tried to reassure him that after a while, he'll forget they're even there. Or when someone asks about them, you can make up a fun story about being chomped by sharks (this was always my go-to) or pulling a puppy from a burning building or something. Just trying to cheer him up. He smiled a bit but I know it will take time to mentally adjust to and accept the "new look."

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Monday I was up early to run errands so that I could THEN work on transcription.

Breakfast and then to the bagel shop (cinnamon raisin for Jameson, egg, wheat, and French toast for me.) To the grocery for more large band-aids for Jameson and more yogurts for me. Back home to help Jameson change his bandages, then transcription for about two hours. Lunch and practicing my Disney stuff. I'd wanted to practice my bass stuff too, but was worried about transcription because if I actually do get one of the trombone jobs at Universal, whether full time or sub, it will really fill up my schedule in coming week.

For dinner we ordered from our favorite Greek place, and for no reason at all they gave us a complementary baklava!
Their baklava are house-made and absolutely fantastic.


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Tuesday, up at 6:30 to get in an hour of transcription, then breakfast and packing up for a rehearsal day at the Magic Kingdom.

I felt a bit nervous...do I remember everything?...but that's why it's a REHEARSAL day. There's no expectation, you just do your best and see where you're at.

We played through this and that for the group rehearsal part, nothing crazy, the full band wasn’t there. There were some cute holiday decorations in the warm up room: a full gingerbread band!

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Close-up of trombones:

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I was told that they had made a whole gingerbread castle at one point, complete with flying Tinkerbell.

The band’s hats still have the little festive sprig of holly.

(please do not share or repost this photo)

It was “cold” out, so the band wore their winter jackets today. I have never worn mine, nor been fitted for one...so it was a little big! Lol

(please do not share or repost this photo)

I got to play the parade but that’s about it, just practiced on my own for the rest of the time or watched sets. It was nice to see the big Christmas tree in the Main Street plaza, and the holiday decorations still up. It is still, always, a privilege to be here.


I had been nervous for no reason. It was a very chill day, and it was nice catching up with the guys :)

After they went out for the flag retreat, I waited until 5 and then clocked out. Picked up sushi at Publix for Jameson and I.
We ate together and I told him about my day. Then he gave me this present, that had been meant for Christmas but just showed up today.
You know what? Jameson's really the best.


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Had terrible sleep because of indigestion + some vacationers nearby chose between 2am-6am to drag race their Mustangs around our residential neighborhood (like wtf, if it happens again I'm calling the cops.)

Up early for transcription, but to my surprise the audio completely stopped a full hour before the end of the hearing! It was some sort of bizarre audio error; like, I could SEE the audio track continued, but it would not play no matter what I did. When this happens I have to submit the hearing as incomplete. This case has been rife with other audio and content issues, so it's still going to take me another day to complete at least.

Jameson left for a doctor's appointment so I took the opportunity to scrub the shower, my least favorite chore. When that was done I tackled transcription again, ate lunch, and practiced THE BASS for the first time. I didn't do a fantastic job, but it wasn't horrible either, it will simply take some getting used to. The thing is incredibly heavy and even these ergonomic triggers are uncomfortable in some ways (literally all bass trombones are like this to my knowledge) so it's partially strength-building and partially making further modifications so I can play without pain.

Later on Jameson had a second appointment, this one about his stitches. They have to stay in for another week, not surprisingly.

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At the time of this post no one has heard anything about the Universal audition results. Andrea and I suspect that they won't take any of us, but will instead hire actors who can hold instruments and then play an audio track to whatever they're doing on stage. It would make sense for them to prioritize the acting aspect of the new show...and it would be cheaper. Bottom line: they told us that orientation would be on the 9th. Today was when offers would have gone out, it's now after 7pm and no one's heard a word. Oh well.

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Thursday: Transcription, practicing, dentist appointment, cooking dinner.

Friday: Honestly not sure. Cleaning? Going for a walk? Throwing out my dead plants I suppose.

Saturday and Sunday: Possibly a new transcription job, and either asking for more transcription hours or reaching out to the hat shop to let them know I'm ready to come back since Universal is apparently not happening.

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

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

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

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

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


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

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


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


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


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

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

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

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


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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Intentionally posting a day late.

After a not-very-Christmasy Christmas Eve Day, Jameson and I went to bed early.

I wore my new Apple Watch to try out the Sleep data. It's fascinating! The thing tracks your BPM, respirations, and levels of sleep/wakefulness. I did a pretty good job last night actually, though I woke up like six times. Will be interested to see how I do in hotels, or across time zones.

I was up early to have breakfast, send emailed Christmas presents, and contemplate life.
Jameson got up as I was packing a few final items and texting my trombone repair guy to make sure he was around for the bass drop off. Jameson and I hugged goodbye, and he walked me to the car. I'll be back in a few days, but every time I leave it hurts a little.

Bill (trombone repair guy) was waiting for me, and tisked at the crushed trombone bell, but said it's repairable. He's also ready to replace the bell entirely if it's too far gone...which since I'm not paying for these repairs, go right ahead. Bill said that Les (the guy who handled the packaging/shipping) had called him, extremely apologetic, and had arranged to pay for whatever work would be needed, including a cleaning. Bill asked me to forgive Les, which of course I have...no one WANTED this to happen. But that doesn't make me any less exasperated. I did say that I hoped he'd take much more care when shipping horns for others in the future after this experience.

Anyway, Bill was incredibly kind considering I was dumping this on him on Christmas Day, but he didn't have family over or anything and seemed not to mind at all. He gifted me a piece of cinnamon bread from a neighbor and sent me on my way. The plan is for him to complete repairs by the 30th so I can pick the horn back up on the drive back down to Orlando.

From there I drove to the Daytona Beach Buc-ee's, thinking it might be a little less packed on Christmas Day. It was not. As usual, an absolute madhouse in there. But I braved it to get some Beaver Nugs and a stick of pecan divinity for Jameson, and a jar of pickled quail eggs for me.

Some other Buc-ee's sights: A sock advent calendar?? And their famous brisket waiting to be sandwiched and wrapped.


The 8-hour drive was very straightforward, there was no weather to contend with and traffic was light. Considering that I stopped three times for food and gas, plus Buc-ee's and the trombone drop-off, I made excellent time. Checked in and unpacked and got right into bed. No grocery stores are open so I'll have to go early in the morning, before our matinee.

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Was up early to walk to Whole Paycheck (happens to be the closest grocery!)
They were open but were clearly taking the opportunity to restock, palettes everywhere. Since we're only here for a few days I didn't need a lot, just the usual fruit-veg-proteins and back out the door.

The theatre is right across the street from the hotel. A luxury!
It's fairly modern, with a nice backstage and a pretty ceiling.

Monday: Travel to Orlando for Candlelight

I only got 2-3 hours of sleep at the airport hotel before my alarm went off at 3am. Urrrrgh.

Funnily enough, Jameson's Candlelight rehearsal was that night, so he was just driving home at 3am while I was getting up. We are both getting our asses handed to us this weekend sleep-wise.

He had Jollywood, Candlelight, Jollywood, and flying to Milwaukee for Thankgiving with his parents (keeping in mind that Jollywood performances end after midnight, and his Candlelight rehearsal went until 3am!) and I have Elf, Candlelight until 2:30am, flying to Milwaukee at 5am, another Elf performance there, and Thanksgiving with Jameson's family.

But you know, considering that we are childless and therefore get to sleep a lot more than anyone who's a parent, we shouldn't complain :p

I took a shuttle to the airport, but to my annoyance it would only drop off at the parking terminal instead of the airport.
Newark International has been massively renovated since I last flew there. Knowing this, I had gotten up earlier than initially planned, and that was right to do because after the shuttle drop off I had to take two different trains to Terminal A.


And even then the final train didn't go straight to the terminal, we had to take a bus! If this is how you get around this airport now, gotta say I'm not impressed :/ But I made it and got my luggage dropped and through security by about 4:20am (so it took between 30-40 minutes to get to the terminal even at that early hour! Jeez.)


The new terminal, though, is lovely. Everything's modern and new, bottle fillers and a new open floor plan and cashierless checkouts all over. I found this free phone sanitizer and used it, why not!


The flight was nice and calm and on time. There were two people coughing CONSTANTLY for the entire 2.5 hour flight, so I was glad for my mask even if it doesn't save me in the end...at least I tried. Picked up my luggage in Orlando, got a rental car, and by 10am I was sneaking quietly into the house so as not to wake Jameson. Late breakfast and then got to work doing as much as I could at home, including

- laundry
- repacking clothing
- setting out clothes for Candlelight (they want us to wear concert blacks and the stage is outdoors so it will be chilly)
- swapping stuff in/out of my luggage
- quick trip to Publix for dinner for later
- watering the plants
- light cleaning, mostly counter-wiping
- trying out a bass trombone that a friend sent to me (it's not a good fit unfortunately)
- lunch
- attempting to take a nap (I dozed a bit at least)
- wrapping some of Jameson's presents that have showed up
- sorting my mail

...I think that's about it.

Jameson had work all afternoon (this after having gotten home at 3am this morning!) and Jollywood at night. I was eating dinner while he was packing up and out the door at 6:30, then I was out the door a few hours later at 9, bringing everything with me because I won't be coming back until Christmas.

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Disney's EPCOT Candlelight Processional Rehearsal

As usual, I cannot take pictures of backstage super-secret Disney stuffs. Sorry.
However here's a short clip of me driving into the park, toward Health Services.
(Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to work we go)

Believe it or not, nearly half of this "rehearsal" is paperwork.
First there's a hearing test at Health Services. Thankfully my hearing has stayed the same since the last test a year ago.

Then there are mostly safety reviews and data protection/intellectual property training videos.
i.e., "Don't share Disney secrets or The Mouse will come break your kneecaps. Wear earplugs in loud places. Remember to lift with your knees. Ok run along to rehearsal now, and have fun!"
These video modules take about 2 hours to complete.

Then I drive to “backstage” EPCOT, because a trombone is considered a large instrument and so I am given "drive-on clearance." I go to a gatehouse and show my blue Castmember ID, tell them why I'm there, and they check to see I'm authorized and let me through. Meanwhile people with smaller instruments and members of the choir have to take a shuttle bus to and from the parking lot.

Probably the coolest think about driving around “backstage Disney” is getting to see little bits and pieces of how the magic happens ;)
Which of course I can't share ;) ;)

Then…waiting. I said hi to musicians I knew, had a snack in the Trap Room (a green room basically,) and checked the call board. Group A was still rehearsing at midnight; I was in Group B this time so wouldn’t go on stage until 1am. But we are getting paid, and we had a nice room to wait in with hot drinks and comfy chairs. I felt surprisingly GOOD this time despite the lack of sleep, and realized that it’s because A) the last time I did this I had to cross two time zones, B) last time my flights were later with less time to rest before the rehearsal, and C) last time I had to do groups A, B, and C rehearsals, which is about 4 hours of playing. This time I had no time zone change, earlier flights, and only had to do one rehearsal set. Thank god!!

And while we were waiting, our stage manager came around to give each of us a commemorative Candlelight enamel pin! How cool!! A lot of Disney fanatics and collectors would KILL for an event-exclusive, Castmember-only item like this. 


Finally at 1am we were lined up outside the stage, and scheduled to go on at 1:20.
But 1:20 came and went. For some reason they held us backstage for 20 minutes.
This made me INCREDIBLY nervous...remember, I had a flight to catch a 20-minute drive away, that boarded at 4:20am, and here it was almost 2am and we weren't rehearsing yet :(

We finally went on around 1:50, and I was so nervous about catching my flight that I could hardly focus on the music. The rehearsal was beautiful and everything went smoothly, I was very grateful to be there. Even in that worried mindset I was able to appreciate that my participation in Candlelight was the SOLE reason why I've gotten to play with the Main Street Philharmonic, The Florida Orchestra, and the Orlando Philharmonic this year. Going out of my way to continue to be a part of this special, once-a-year Disney tradition doesn't seem unreasonable at all. Even if it stresses me out :p

(stock image from a previous year)

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Flight to MKE

We played our final notes at 2:40am, and I RAN off the stage, ran to the trap room and threw my horn in the case, ran to the car, drove as fast as I could to the airport. I didn't have time to stop for gas so will probably get charged for that later, oh well. Dropping my baggage turned out to be an ORDEAL because there were no Delta attendants when I got there, and a massive queue had built up, so it took 15-20 minutes to get through that. Security also was delayed because they ran out of trays for personal items and we had to wait while someone went to get them. Aren't we about to start the BUSIEST flying week of the year, and THIS is how things are going at MCO? It was like the airport was creating problems for itself.

But anyway, TL;DR I made it to my gate about 15 minutes before boarding time. By this point I was starting to feel the exhaustion of being awake for nearly a day and a half straight. Here I am brushing my teeth in the restroom at 4am before boarding the flight.


I dozed on the flight and ate breakfast on the Atlanta layover, then dozed again on the flight to Milwaukee.


I can never fully sleep on planes, and also we ended up having a medical emergency on our flight :( I couldn't see well but it seemed to be a woman, and she was conscious but must have been having heart trouble because that defib box was brought out. Not to be corny but it went just like in the movies: a flight attendant got on the PA system and asked if there was a doctor or nurse on the plane. A woman got up to go and help. The plane was dead silent and tense, but we were close to landing and we definitely landed more quickly than scheduled (this happened about 40 minutes from landing and we were on the ground in 20.) There were ambulances on the tarmac to meet us, and we were all told to sit and wait until the woman could be taken to them (medical personnel with a foldy-stretcher came and got her.) As we were deplaning I saw the wrappings from the defib sticky pads on the ground so knew they'd been used in some capacity :/

Anyway that was that. There was nothing to do but empathize and hope that she would be all right.

On the way to collect luggage, even though I was very tired, I did remember to ask any Delta pilots I saw for trading cards. I got four, but all were duplicates so I will offer them to my tour companions.

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Opening Elf in Milwaukee

Got my luggage, got an Uber, got to the hotel. It's a fancy Hyatt downtown. I'm on the 14th floor.


View from my room is nice.


I ordered Instacart groceries which turned out to be a mistake because the person shopping for me was inattentive/very careless. I ended up with the wrong type of yogurt (even though I'd sent her a substitution option), wrinkly old apples, and too many protein shakes (which would normally not be a problem but when you travel for a living, it is.) I had to throw most of the apples out after cutting two open and finding them browning inside, and ultimately had to write her a crappy review.

Still, it did save me having to go shopping myself after nearly 48 hours awake. I barely managed to unpack...you know how when you're tired, you kind of can't focus? I was just sort of setting items down and moving them around, not putting them where they were supposed to go haha. Finally I made myself lie down and slept like a dead person for two hours, waking up only when my alarm went off, drool all over my pillow!

Then I had to eat dinner, get dressed, and go do a sound check and a show. Because this 48-hour day isn't over yet!

We are playing the Marcus Center. I was just here with Tootsie in June 2023.
The ceiling:


This pit is nice and spacious, a relief after the dirty hole that we had to work in in New Jersey.
Sound check was "ok" but this is our first time playing in a modern hall, so the acoustics were very different and half our band members (who have never toured before) didn't know what to do with all the reverb. We had some tempo issues, but people are smart and figured out that they'd just need to listen differently and interact with this space differently. (TBH I will probably write a little friends-only rant about this later haha)

I have my own dressing room again! It's just a little practice room, but it's soundproofed and that is WONDERFUL because sometimes I need quiet after being next to trumpets all the time.


The show went just fine, we may have had some small tempo issues but they will certainly work themselves out.

Afterward I walked back to the hotel and saw this beautiful park decorated for Christmas across the river (it's just blocks from the hotel.) I hope to visit it or walk through one night :)


And then....finally.....blessed, blessed sleep.

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Despite the time change and despite being exhausted I still woke up at 8am (9am EST).
But feeling MUCH better after getting what my body needed :)

I am so grateful to have Wednesday to mostly recover.
I had a slow morning, just breakfast and typing this up and packing an overnight bag for Jameson's parents' house.

Before lunch I walked to a grocery to replace the bad fruit I'd had to throw out, and just to get cardio after all that time sitting on planes or in rehearsals or shows. It's very cold here, definitely winter temps ranging from 20-35F, and I'm glad to have packed my down jacket and earmuffs for this second leg of tour. I was glad for the walk but felt crappy when I got back (not unusual after a lot of air travel) and so had a snack then a nap.

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I’m typing the rest of this from the pit because I forgot to post this before leaving the hotel! Jameson and his parents are attending the show tonight, and afterwards I’m spending Thanksgiving with them!

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Thursday: Thanksgiving with Jameson and his family :)

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday: Two shows each day. I won't have time for much, but will appreciate a weekend in Milwaukee anyway.

Sunday's hat:


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


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

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

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

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

Today's Stuff:

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

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

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

(stock image)

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Tuesday, Jameson was up early for Jollywood rehearsal.

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

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

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


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


Vote, y'all.


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

What's still on my To-Do List:

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

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

Today's activities:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday's Hat:


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

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

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Monday's activities:

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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Tuesday's doings:

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

Today's hat:


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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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


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


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

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

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

The beat goes on.

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

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

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

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And now, onward.

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

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

Sunday: ???