goofball on a train

I was nervous for the flight out of San Antonio because it was pouring rain in the morning, but by the time we loaded up and got to the airport it was a drizzle. Even so, I was watching myself carefully because anxiety/the fight-or-flight response likes to jump out at you unexpectedly.

Several coworkers kindly checked on me to make sure I was ok. I felt both grateful and embarrassed by this. I don't like to be the "weak link" or the "wuss" and I DEFINITELY hate to make others feel like they need to expend time and energy on me. But also, it was nice to know that people cared and empathized.

And then, the flight was fine. I was more nervous than usual of course, but also less nervous than I used to be about flying in the past, if that makes sense. In other words I haven't been set back entirely by the bad flight experience to NOLA. Just a little bit, and I think that's understandable and will only require a bit of patience to overcome. I was so grateful that this was a normal flight, so that I could be kind to myself and reinforce that flying is GOOD and SAFE to my subconscious.

Anyway, we landed in Charlotte and rode a bus for 1.5 hours to Columbia. The last time I was here was with the circus, and though there wasn't much time for sightseeing I have fond memories of doing an elephant walk here, and of the fun college atmosphere.

We are staying in a Graduate hotel (this is probably the fifth one I've stayed in at this point) so the room key is a fake student ID card.


And the decor is...interesting. (The school mascot is a gamecock)


The room is huge! I have a living room! Once again it's a shame we're only here for a few days because how comfortable and nice!
(CLICK HERE to see)

After dropping my luggage I walked to Good Life Cafe. They specialize in healthy food, and there's nothing like some refreshing veg after a long travel day!


Shrimp spring roll: avocado, kelp noodles, mango, lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, red cabbage, red peppers, wrapped in rice paper, served with wasabi and teriyaki dipping sauces. Yummy and colorful!


From there I walked to Publix, and immediately recognized it so I must have been there during my circus days also. Ran into Kyla in the produce section (our substitute cellist) and we split an uber back to the hotel. Our MD wanted to have a "band hang" at the hotel bar, so after putting groceries away I went down and had a glass of wine with everyone. We talked about random stuff, like you do, and I was happy to learn more about my bandmates :)

Sneaky and not very good pic, taken by me


Better, organized group photo taken by our MD. The guy wearing grey/white is Jim (Company Management.)


After that I unpacked, filled out some paperwork for the masterclass I'm doing at USC on Wednesday, and reviewed some Mexico excursion options that Raven had sent for our Sibling Reunion trip coming up in February. I tried to narrow it down to just two excursion options, but there were so many price points/factors that I decided to have a closer look in the morning when I was more awake and focused.

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As promised to my brother and sisters, I narrowed down the Mexico options (to three not two) and offered them up in the Sibling Chat for discussion. So far no one has voted on them. I'm not surprised, we're all "beta" personalities when it comes to decision-making :p

I'd ordered some black pants from Amazon, because my black yoga pants are fading from being washed and it's become too apparent that they're NOT dress slacks.  One pair fit pretty well and the other was too big so I packaged it back up and walked to a UPS Store to return it. Right next to the store was smallSUGAR, a bakery that I'd planned to hit anyway, so I popped in for lunch.

(image stolen from a random review site)

They were low on pastries (it was lunch time after all) so I went with their "shakshouka-ish": spicy tomato and onion sauce with a ramen-style soft-boiled egg, marinated eggplant, za'atar seasoned toast, and a big pile of parsley.


It tasted just as good as it looked. The bread was crusty and flavorful, the za'atar seasoning a perfect complement to the tangy tomato sauce, the rich jammy egg taming the acidity of the sauce, and the marinated eggplant which was tangy in a different, almost citrusy way. Everything worked together so well, I could have eaten this all day! But I saved 2 of the 3 bread pieces and half the sauce to eat later. The chef area is open to the dining room so I made sure to tell the guy who prepared my food how amazing it was, he looked very pleased (as he should be, he put quality and love into this food!)

I was glad for the walk back, it was in the mid-50s and dreary but the fresh air was nice. Between getting cooped up for a day and a half in Jackson, and then all the one-nighters of being crammed on buses for 15 hours and shuttling around between theatres and hotels, it feels like I haven't been outside in ages.

Walking past the SC State House, there was some press conference going on so I circled wide but also documented it.


Back at the hotel I printed out some notes for the masterclass tomorrow, then packed dinner and chilled until sound check.
The "theatre" is more of an auditorium. It's the Koger Center, which is part of the USC campus. The whole performing arts complex is very big and looks new and modern.

(stock image)

The pit is shallow, so I have an unusually good view of the stage for once!


After sound check I ate a packed dinner, then we had the show. It was a full house, and went really well! Our understudy was in for the character of Freddie and he did an excellent job :)

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Wednesday I woke up SO NERVOUS for the USC masterclass!

Nathan (the grad student in charge) showed me around a bit, then we went to a studio room where about 12 young trombonists were waiting for us. It felt so weird...I swear I was JUST a student myself not so long ago! And now I was the one coming in to describe how to "make it." SO WEIRD.

It was very casual, and really just a chat. It was supposed to be Q&A but this group seemed fairly introverted, and not many questions were asked. Nathan mostly directed the questions, asking the usual stuff like my background, how do I handle the logistics of travel, the pressures of auditions and applying for music work, etc. A few kids had good questions; one asked an especially pertinent one about how to handle the physical trials that come with a lifestyle on the road.

I gave the best answers that I could, and probably rambled somewhat, but with only about an hour to work with it's tough to cram in the information and advice that comes with 27 years(!) of playing the trombone. The main points that I did get to speak about:

- Challenges of traveling for work, and finding time to practice and stay healthy
- Descriptions of what the work was like, and what types of horns/gear I've used for various gigs
- Handling your "inner voice" and Impostor Syndrome when auditioning or performing or just existing
- How I got these jobs in the first place (I really wanted to touch on this and was glad it came up; all of my gigs have come from cold-calling, so I wanted to encourage students not to be afraid to do that)
- What life was like in the circus (of course, you gotta go into that more in-depth!)

Other non-musical topics were things like my interest in food and restaurants across the US, and some things that can make each city interesting and fun, or how we keep ourselves entertained on travel days and such. I brought up that I like anime, which was the most engaged moment of the masterclass, lol. Everyone wanted to know what shows I was into, so I listed my classic favorites (Cowboy Bebop and Trigun because I'm an old lady) and some new shows that I'm into recently. I felt "cool" for about five seconds :p

Parting advice, from me, was "Don't make decisions based on fear." The topic of anxiety and Impostor Syndrome came up more than once, and I expressed that those were things that I face constantly. Every show, every night, and between shows too. And the nasty voice in my head that tells me I'm garbage and don't deserve to be here never goes away entirely. My advice was to not let that voice make decisions. Feel however it makes you feel--inadequate, afraid, frustrated, whatever--but don't let those feelings, or that voice, have a say in your life path, in whether or not to take an opportunity or apply for a job. Feel inadequate, and apply anyway.

Also, cold calls!
I hope that was good advice.
And I'm annoyed that I forgot to ask for a group photo.

Afterward I shook hands all around and walked to Food Lion for supplemental groceries, mostly for the upcoming bus rides to Greensboro and Pittsburgh. We have lunch stops on those rides but I often get hungry between stops. Then I did laundry and enjoyed some tea before the evening show.

The show went well but there was some weird chick in the crowd wearing a puffy, bright pink "Barbie dress" who talked the entire first act in a high-pitched baby voice that everyone could hear. Then she got up to pee in the middle of the show and nearly fell on her face...and when she came back, she went down the wrong row! And instead of just turning back around and going out, she loudly apologized, in her baby voice, to every single person she passed. It felt like she was doing a bit. But she was probably either really drunk or really messed up in the head. We didn't see her for the second act so either she/her companions were smart enough to leave, or they were "removed."

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I usually post early on Thursday, but because our schedule has been so weird I'm posting later.

Today is our last day in Columbia. I was grateful to get up knowing I had nothing to do except pack and perform the show in the evening. Breakfast and a lovely chill morning of watching anime, doing a few updates to the Pittsburgh foodie finds sheet, and chatting with Jameson as he went about his day. He's been going to the gym and has changed his eating habits, and has lost nine pounds already!! I'm extremely proud of him :)

For lunch I walked to a restaurant called MOA for bibimbap. The pictures of the food looked great, but it turned out to be one of those pretentious "power lunch" places, so it was me and a bunch of middle-aged white men in suits guffawing loudly and making demands of the wait staff as though their needs took priority over everything. Very cringe. The bibimbap was good, and came with a rainbow of veggies on top and a fried egg. I appreciated that the sauces were served on the side so I could control the salt and heat levels.


(CLICK HERE to see me pop that egg!)

And of course the best part of stone bowl bibimbap is the sizzling, crispy rice on the bottom! (My bowl was not very hot so sadly I didn't get much crispy rice to speak of.)


Going to be honest, it didn't hold a candle to the bibimbap from Drunken Bento in Cincinnati. And the vibe in the restaurant was pretentious and offputting. But it was still very tasty bibimbap, and I loved the variety of veggies. I ate half and will eat the other half tomorrow on the bus.

Back at the hotel I pretty much crashed for the day, only getting up to make tea and to pack my suitcase, and eventually get ready for the show.

I'm posting this to DW before the actual show so let's just say "it went well."

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Tomorrow, bussing to Greensboro. There's a stop at a Walmart, and ETA is 2:30pm with a show at 8pm.
I'm hoping that this'll give me enough time to hit an Asian grocery near our hotel, but won't hold my breath over it.
It's a tight show schedule with two shows on both Saturday and Sunday, so I won't have a lot of time for sightseeing but hope to walk around downtown a bit if the weather is nice (it's not supposed to be but why not hope)

And my aunt and uncle are coming to a show! I'm excited to see them and spend a little time with them!

*Rant Alert* Regular blog continues after rant.

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Our bus call was at 7am, so around that time I stepped into the hallway with all of my luggage to find a queue for the elevators that wrapped partway down the hallway. There was a robotics competition in town, and I guess all of them were leaving at the same time as our group...and there was only one working elevator.

Heart sinking, I texted our tour manager to make sure she knew what was happening.

This hotel has been, frankly, the worst hotel I've ever stayed at in my life.
Even worse than the terrible, dirty Golden Nugget where they made me come to the lobby with 102°F fever and an active case of Covid on Memorial Day Weekend because they wouldn't let their staff bring food to my room.

Friends, seriously, if you go to Dallas do not under any circumstances stay at the Crowne Plaza Downtown.
Over the course of the two weeks:

My key cards stopped working three times,
I was walked in on by hotel staff three times in a single day,
had a clogged sink and leaking toilet in two separate rooms,
had to switch rooms (and no one checked to make sure fixtures were working in the new room),
lost a night of sleep to a massive after-prom party that ended in violence and a mass-arrest,
lost last night's sleep to a crazy/drugged up/irate adult man screaming in the hallway and POUNDING on the door across from mine,

....and finally, to leave this hotel, I waited FORTY-FIVE MINUTES for an elevator.

I am unfortunately not joking. I was in the queue at 7am, and by the time I got on a car it was 7:43, made it to the lobby at 7:45 on the dot.
The bus was supposed to leave at 7:30. I was on the 19th floor with close to 100lbs of luggage so could not use the stairs, and in any case the stairs at this hotel don't lead to the lobby but to an attached parking garage.

I was not the only one trapped on their floor, several others from our group made it to the lobby at about the same time as me.
Pardon my french but this entire stay has been incredible, inexcusable, mind-blowingly awful bullshit.

As I got on the bus coworkers were asking if I was ok and I couldn't even answer because I was afraid I'd say or do something that might get me fired or at least written up. That's how livid and fed up I was. And I'm not only going to write reviews across multiple sites for this hotel, I'm also going to contact their corporate. No one should be giving money to this location until they get new management. I don't care if that makes me a "Karen", no one staying in a 3-star hotel should have to go through what I went through these past two weeks.

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Let's get back to some positivity.

Once on the bus, I had time to doze and de-stress.
I ate some snacks and chatted with Jameson and felt interested to see Orange, TX.
This will be my view for the next several days.


We stopped at a Buc-ee's in Madisonville.


I exercised incredible self-control and only got an enamel pin (I've been looking for a Buc-ee's enamel pin for a while but the FL locations haven't had any), no food despite all of the tempting offerings. This location even had a Beaver Nugs scented candle! Good grief.


We continued on and got to Orange somehow earlier than expected, so I had just enough time to unpack a bit, get a shower, and get quarters for laundry from the front desk (that's another thing, the Crowne Plaza would not give quarters for their washers, wtf). Then it was back onto the bus to get to the venue.

Orange, TX and the Lutcher Theatre were actually the very first place that I ever performed on tour, way back in 2010!
It was strange to be here again. I was so much younger then, so nervous to be on my first tour and certain I'd be sent home the very first day for sucking at the trombone lol.

Now as then, the wonderful staff of the theatre offered us a home-cooked meal which was VERY appreciated as most of us, especially crew, had ZERO time to find dinner. The meal was homemade chicken or cheese enchiladas, rice and beans, beef soft tacos or nachos, vegan chick'n dip, and an assortment of desserts served with sweet or unsweet tea. It was very good!


After dinner we had sound check, then I went for a walk around the grounds.
On the way to the theatre I had seen little statues of oranges on many street corners, in front of local businesses and landmarks, and in seemingly random places, scattered all throughout town. I thought, this is the only time I get in Orange...why not try to find some oranges!

( CLICK HERE for Oranges )

I had fun finding as many of these as I could, and got some exercise too after being on the bus all day.

The show went smoothly, and we immediately packed up and loaded back onto the bus, because tomorrow we do it all over again!

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Tuesday was indeed wash-rinse-repeat, with the exception of WORKING elevators so that we could actually leave on time.

Our lunch stop was at H-E-B, a Texas grocery chain that's pretty good.
I got shrimp spring rolls and a few proteins for the week, then we were off again.
We arrived at the hotel nearly an hour early (they've been planning for traffic) so I took the opportunity to walk to Mi Tierra in Market Square.



There are lots of other shops here selling Mexican crafts and clothing and such, but I didn't have time to explore sadly.

The bakery was big and colorful.


I wanted one of everything!
(CLICK HERE to see the bakery cabinet)

Instead of baked goods this time I went for the dulces, Mexican candied pumpkin and sweet potato.



I had thought these would be sold by the pound (like American candies are) but no, it's sold in huge hunks...whole candied sweet potato halves, and huge wedges of pumpkin. So, I got one of each.

Close-ups to show texture:



I chopped them up to share at work since I hadn't been expecting to get so many.
The pumpkin tasted good but still had a vegetable aftertaste and a pretty wet texture, so tbh it wasn't my favorite.
The sweet potato was very good, though, and if it weren't so very sweet I could probably have eaten the whole thing.
My coworkers also liked the sweet potato best!
Anyway it was fun to try these, I've never had candied vegetables before.

Back at the hotel I cleaned up and walked to the theatre for the show.
A year ago Tootsie played The Majestic downtown, which is historic but VERY old and cramped.
This theatre is modern and nice, with a large open pit and comfortable backstage.
I ended up having very little time for pictures because of some band issues that required me to actually be a Band Rep for once, but here is the outside of the theatre post-show. Lit up very beautifully.


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Wednesday was supposed to be a day of non-travel, a day to sleep in and relax, but I had a lot to do so ended up sleeping poorly and getting up early, feeling stressed.

Wrote this post, prepped my Crowne Plaza corporate letter, drafted an email for the Band Rep issue, repacked my luggage because tomorrow we're off again for Tyler TX. Set aside some show tickets for my grandma, who I'll hopefully get to see in a few days in Columbus, GA. Badly wanted to do laundry but there are just no facilities close enough, not enough time, and I'm not paying $50 to have a service rush it.

In the afternoon I had a zoom meeting with someone doing a documentary on the clown scare of 2016, basically she wanted contact info for actual clowns which was easily given. Then a short walk to CVS for necessities, then to the theatre to take the temperature in the pit. I was heckled the entire way by a homeless man calling me names and wanting to know "Where'd your ASS go?"

I think he was saying I've got a flat ass. He's not wrong. I blame the Asian portion of my genome :p

The show went well, although there was a little weirdness with lines and also a bit of disruptiveness in the audience.
I'm thinking we're all getting kind of loopy-tired with all of this back to back travel and endless shows.
But after tomorrow's show in Tyler we'll at least have a travel day without a show at the end of it, and that should help.

It is my dream to do a load of laundry.

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Other stuff:

Wigs & Makeup area backstage.


The moon was close to full last night, with a beautiful nimbus.


Some reviews of the Asian foods that I enjoyed last week!


- Corn husk tea: also surprisingly good! Slightly sweet, corn-flavored tea. It would probably be amazing with honey and milk.

**Disclaimer: The content of this post reflects my own personal views, opinions, and experiences.
This post does NOT express the views or opinions of my employer.**

Note:
This week I had a family emergency, which I do not want to discuss at this time so please do not ask.
I wrote this post BEFORE that emergency occurred.
Due to these circumstances, I may be posting less often for a few weeks, or with less content because I will be helping my family during a difficult time.
Thank you for your understanding and please know that at some point regular posting will resume.

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Monday was my first day off on tour! Woohoo!

My friend Molly, a drummer that I worked with on the Ruby Princess, lives in Buffalo and came to get me for brunch!
Of course neither of us checked to see if the cafe we wanted to hit was open ^^; lol
But Molly knew of several other good cafes in the area, and it didn't take us long to find another!

We went to Tipico, which had a great selection of coffee and a pretty exciting menu of tasty treats to try.
There were a lot of vegan options, and since I'd had my heart set on a lox bagel I opted for the "vegan lox", which was large carrots sliced, cooked, and marinated in a variety of sauces and spices to taste similar to smoked salmon. Served with sprouts, avocado, dill, capers, fig cashew sauce, and pickled red onions on toasted sourdough. It was delicious!


While we ate we caught up with each other. Molly wanted to know all about tour life, and although there's not much to tell yet I shared what's been up so far. She told me about what she's been up to, considering secondary careers mostly, just like the rest of us who learned very quickly that the arts could not weather a pandemic very well. We talked about the other members of our Ruby Princess all-female band, what we'd heard from them lately and how we wished they could be there with us today :)

After brunch we walked around and explored some of the local shops. It being Monday, a lot of shops were closed, but we enjoyed browsing the ones that were open and that had local crafts and goods on display. In one shop we were greeted by this dapper young man in a tie. How professional!


Along our way Molly pointed out some places she recommended for meals while I'm in town. I took note of a ramen bar, and a hot dog place, and another great coffee shop. It's unlikely that I'll be able to visit all of these without gaining 500lbs, but I certainly want to enjoy what Buffalo has to offer as much as I can! We stopped in a local organic grocery and both got big giant cookies.
Here we are getting ready to chow down!


Too soon it was time for me to return to the hotel so I could deal with some non-tour issues that had come up during the day. We promised to meet again for wings next Monday. Man, it was so good to see Molly in person!! I'm so glad she made time to visit with me today!
( Read more... )

On Monday we had a blissful day off. No moving, driving, etc.
I woke up with a nasty cold, so spent the day puttering around and watching Frozen and fetching groceries.

On Tuesday Jameson and I went to the National Aquarium. It was awesome! Four floors of fish, sharks, crustaceans, turtles, alligators, birds, and even monkeys! We learned that box turtles have a hinge on the underside of their shells so that they can close up like a box, and that electric eels can put out as much as 800 volts of electricity depending on how long they are!



We saw the aquarium's rescued sea turtle, who is missing a front flipper. When she was rescued she was only 50lbs...now she's 520lbs!!

(photo courtesy nationalaquarium.wordpress.com)
( Read more... )