goofball on a train

Monday, I was up just a little before Jameson for breakfast and to feel nervous about the Steamboat Lillie rehearsal.

After Jameson went to the gym I practiced bass and packed my meals for Epic tomorrow.
Ate lunch in the car on the way to the musician's union building near downtown, which is where rehearsal would be held.

I haven't been to the union building for ages. Bad memories. When I first moved to Orlando Jameson lived in an apartment so I couldn't practice there without disturbing the neighbors. I'd practice at the union building whenever I could get a reservation for it...but 9 out of 10 times my rehearsal was halved by assholes (men) who insisted on rehearsing past their assigned time, or who would bust in in the middle of my time slot to banter and guffaw and use the space as a hang, and would glare at me for being there (even though I had more right to be there than any of them considering it was MY time slot.)

This was one of the reasons I left the union soon after. And then we moved to a house in Kissimmee anyway.

It all looked pretty much the same, maybe slightly cleaner but not much.


Three ladies were already there practicing. I introduced myself and got set up. Others were running late (people have kids and real jobs) so we used that time to try on our flapper dresses from Amazon. Our bandleader had wisely ordered multiple sizes, knowing that sometimes clothing online is not what it seems. My dress fit perfectly, and it is pale purple, almost the same color I wear as Phillipa in 1920s Paris at Epic Universe. Go figure!

When everyone else arrived we buckled down and plowed through the music piece by piece.
None of it is particularly hard, but some arrangements were pilfered online and are kind of "not the best" as far as making sense. Overall, though, people will have an easy time recognizing familiar Disney classics played in an old-timey jazz style. My favorite arrangements were the ones our bandleader did herself, you could tell she knows what she's doing as an arranger.

Overall this rehearsal went much better than I'd anticipated. Jazz is my biggest weakness as a musician, and improv jazz is worst of all. Playing it makes me feel inadequate and self-conscious. But this was a good group of patient people. And fortunately a lot of what was marked "solo" improv in my part turned out to be optional or for anyone to solo, not just trombone. Phew. It was a big relief not to have to improv much!

Back home I thanked my Morning Self for packing the Epic stuff so I wouldn't have to do it after a long day :p

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Tuesday. Halfway through April, wow.

They've moved our Epic sets by about an hour so I was able to get up an hour later, still 6:45am.

I argued with myself about bringing the bass trombone to Epic because with the schedule change I may actually have time to practice. Decided to bring it and at least have a try.

It was a normal day, quite hot and sunny. I did indeed find time to practice, only 30 minutes but way better than nothing. I was incredibly tired today, but so were a lot of other people, so maybe it's the heat or the alignments of the planets or something. Nothing else to report except that leaving work an hour later (5:30pm instead of 4:30pm) really, really sucks.

This was the "best route" according to the Googs:


What kind of squiggly-snake BS nonsense is this?!
Just horrific. And Epic isn't even open yet. Ugh.

By the time I got home I was truly exhausted, and thanked my Morning Self for insisting that I bring the bass to Epic because Evening Self had absolutely no energy for it. The morning version of me sure is stepping up this week! LOL

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Wednesday. Jameson had to get up at 8 for a doctor's appointment, so I just got up when he did.

Had breakfast and went out to get myself bagels and coffee but otherwise stayed at home and felt nervous about tonight's gig.
Practiced parts of the Steamboat music that I'm uncomfortable with, and tried to relax the rest of the time because I feel stressed and tired. Our third party has been getting our pay wrong, multiple weeks in a row, and it's stressing me out on top of misc other things.

When it got to be time to go I packed some snacks, trombone and music stand, trombone stand, mutes, in-ears, music, and dress shoes, then put on my Phillipa makeup and stockings (I had smuggled my makeup bag and stockings home from Epic for this haha.)

The venue was easy to find. Dragged all of my stuff inside and got set up.
From here, everything kind of went off the rails.

Problem 1: A child--I'm talking Gen Alpha--came running out from somewhere to do our sound setup, already on the phone with someone for help and with a panicked look on his face. Oh, lord. Sound check was supposed to be at 4pm and we did not play one note until 5pm. We found out later that the actual sound guy's grandfather had died and that's why he wasn't there...and we are all sympathetic to that. But the venue also could have told our bandleader that, so she could have had us come earlier, or made arrangements for us to warm up elsewhere while sound got their sh*t together instead of wasting an hour sitting on stage.

Problem 2: The bassist's bass started BREAKING. I don't exactly know how, but suspect that since it was hot outside and she'd had a long drive, she'd brought the car-warmed bass into the absolutely freezing theatre and it had started to crack (this is a VERY common problem with wooden instruments including clarinets, and is why unionized musicians insist on specific temperatures in performance spaces.) We all jumped on our phones and frantically started asking around for any bassists in the area to help...within the next hour.

Problem 3: Our trumpet player's audio pack died immediately meaning she'd have to do the entire show without the click track.

Problem 4: There were four songs that we didn't get to at rehearsal, that we were planning to cover at this sound check. Which we now couldn't do because due to the theater's audio crew (a child) not knowing what they were doing, we were now an hour behind schedule.

We did end up getting an emergency upright bass from a local bassist, god bless her.
And we did get our mixes together. But had absolutely no time to warm up or run any tunes.

And hey, the dresses were nice. Here's mine.


Problem 5: I have to apologize if this sounds snooty or rude, and I have loads of respect for our bandleader, who worked very hard to make this band happen. But truth is truth, and every musician on that stage with me would agree: most of these arrangements were simply NOT GOOD. Even during intermission our reed player was frantically making changes to her part to try and make it sound reasonable. There were so many times that I, a low brass instrument, was written to play ABOVE the trumpet and saxophone. That just doesn't sound good, which is why people don't WRITE that way :/

Problem 6: The click track was difficult to hear, and one of us (trumpet player) didn't have the click at all and so couldn't hear any count-offs. I tried to give her the count offs when I could, but *I* barely knew them either as we'd only had that one rehearsal and one run-through of each song (well, most songs.) The result was that we'd start with the click and quickly migrate away from it. So imagine trying to sing a song while another completely different song is playing loudly in the background. That's what it was like, and it was horrible. I stuck with it for a while but when we hit the Monsters, Inc. medley it's very syncopated AND I have a solo. I locked eyes with the drummer and we simultaneously reached out and yanked out our ear buds, lol. At least that was comedic, because the rest of the situation really wasn't.

Problem 7: Our poor bandleader had paid a professional photographer/videographer to come and take footage of this set, to use for media promotion to hopefully get the group hired for corporate events or weddings or whatever. Yikes. He probably got some decent visual footage...but I doubt much of our audio was usable the way things were going. Between the bad arrangements and not following the click track and the bassist being on an unfamiliar instrument and all of us having to play in a very cold space...it just didn't go very well.

Was it terrible? No. Every woman on that stage is an excellent musician. But circumstantially, we were screwed.
Even without the sound check issues, having a gig based on less-than-ideal arrangements, with only one run-through rehearsal, and using a click track when we had a perfectly excellent drummer, is what did us in. It's a shame. I was grateful that Jameson had NOT come out to support me for this one.

I do think that the idea of an all-female 1920s Disney jazz band is awesome!
But tonight it was too rushed, too unorganized, to come together.
Maybe in the future the parts can be refined, we can talk the bandleader out of using a click past the count-off, and we can have more rehearsals. I think all of that would make this a great band.


(but the odds of me playing with this group again, after that experience, are slim.)

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Thursday: I was supposed to have a bass lesson but Will is still recovering from surgery so it's a day off. Practice, some chores, the usual.

Friday: Another day off, I'll cook dinner and probably find other things that need to be done. Still have a lot of crap to list for sale online.

Saturday: Day at Epic.

Sunday: Easter, Easter church gig, eating candy all day with Jameson hopefully, making us a nice-but-basic Easter dinner. Thinking of my mom (Easter was her favorite holiday.)

Addendum: Someone made a video of our full set at Epic a few days ago! I didn't play my best (this was the last set of Tuesday and I was ungodly tired and unfocused) but now you can hear ALL of the lines and see Plume's big reveal, the percussion number, etc!
(and yes, we know we need to be miked, we've been asking for mics from day one and will continue to push for them!!)

Watch on YouTube

Up very early again for Epic.

30 minutes to do the hair. I am pretty annoyed because I just got it cut on Monday, and they did not cut it short enough to avoid a potential bun, so now I have to pay to get it cut AGAIN. I've written in this blog many times about never being able to get a good haircut, and once again here I am with the simplest ask in the world--"Please cut it 2 inches shorter"--no special layering or styling or anything--literally just remove two inches of hair--and it's like I've asked for the stylist to bring me the sun, moon, and stars on a platter. I got home and tied up my hair and had to ask what the hell I'd just paid for. Maybe I should invest in a self-haircut 101 course, if there is such a thing, because I am tired to death of the scam that is hair salons.

Anyway. Breakfast and off to Epic.

We had our prop for most of the day...it broke once but in a fixable way, so we only had to do one show without it.
There were good crowds, and we saw Mariah (trombone) with her boyfriend, and I was surprised to see some Main Street Philharmonic people and other musicians that I know around town, who texted later to tell me how much they'd enjoyed our show and to explain that they have spouses or other family working at Universal (hence how they were able to get in for previews.) It was fun to see familiar faces out there :)

Curious to see what people think of the new park after their previews? Reddit thread HERE (Mild spoilers, nothing to ruin a visit.)

The strangest part of the day, for me, was being contacted by almost every single employer/gig on my roster!

Transcription job wrote to say there's a hold on government court cases, and would I like some civil cases instead? Sure, I said.
Easter gig sent more music, and the coordinator asked me to pick up some music from her and bring it to the gig.
My Main Street Philharmonic boss texted to try and get me to fill in as an emergency (literally within the hour), and I had to say no.
An all-female Chicago tribute band that I'd signed on with and completely forgotten about messaged to send music and coordinate a rehearsal.
My third party boss for Epic wrote to offer reimbursement on the junk trombone I bought, if I'd create him an invoice.

And the coordinator for the Steamboat Lillies (usually known as the all-female band Hourglass) sent more music, and put up an ad for our gig which I promptly shared.


In fact the only job/gig that I didn't hear from today was the tour, but I heard from them just yesterday!

Did the stars align in such a way that compelled people to communicate today, for once?
I love it! If only people were this informative and on top of communication ALL the time! :D

Partly because of this bombardment of music and scheduling, and partly because I felt it was the right thing to do, I cancelled my bass trombone lesson this evening. I couldn't picture Will and I doing anything except the same handful of exercises I've been half-neglecting while all this tenor trombone work rolls in, and also felt I'd be distracted thinking about how I need to practice all the new music I'd just received. Didn't want to waste Will's time nor mine. We can resume again on the 17th, after the busiest week in April is out of my face.

Back home Jameson was out to dinner with friends. I washed myself up, changed our sheets, downloaded the new music, made the invoice for my boss, and practiced bass for about an hour, then crashed. Dancing around in 90F / 32.2C weather drains you quickly, no matter how much water you drink.

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Slept poorly and was up too early, but enjoyed the quiet time to myself anyway.

Once Jameson was up and off to the gym I practiced bass trombone for an hour and ran a few small errands before lunch, then after lunch got my stupid hair cut a stupid second time. This time walked in with it up in the ponytail already and showed exactly where I wanted it cut, and she just angrily lopped it off. So now it looks ridiculous, like a little squared tassel, and no shaping at all was done so it looks terrible when it's down as well.

Whatever. I clearly have bad hair karma, and there have been so many bad cuts at this point that I can't afford to expect a good outcome anymore. I can still tie it back and it's certainly not long enough for a bun, so mission accomplished.

I was supposed to practice tenor trombone in the afternoon but felt tired and unmotivated. It's probably because I'm not looking forward to the Steamboat Lillies gig any more...seeing that EVIL JAZZ IMPROV in my part was a big turn-off. I can't tell you guys how much I hate improv, I find nothing enjoyable about it at all and feel like a fool every time I attempt it. Well...at least the other 80% of the gig should go just fine!

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Saturday was my preview day at Epic Universe, and it was absolutely wonderful!
So much happened that I decided to make that it's own post, which you can read HERE.

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Sunday, I was up early to type up that massive Epic Universe blog post. Uploading photos, resizing them, embedding videos, adding links, and remembering how the day went sure does take a lot of time and effort! In the process I found many lovely clips and footage of Place Cachee Jazz featuring Mariah (trombone), Adam (trumpet), and Adrian (clarinet).

Here is a 6-minute clip of our show:



After Jameson got up and around we went to Publix together.
Back home putting groceries away, doing laundry and running the dishwasher, eating lunch, packing for Epic tomorrow, and darning my Chain Chomp shirt because last night I'd found a hole in it!! It was such a clean cut that I think it must have happened when an employee was cutting the merch box open. Jameson suggested that I take it back, but I can't go to the other worlds while working so I'd have to ask a Universal employee to go all that way and switch it out for me. I decided it'd be easier to sew it up myself. I watched a YouTube video and it seemed easy enough...and it was! Except...I wasn't paying attention, and did it backwards, so the bulge-y part was on the OUTSIDE. Lol! I don't mind, you can barely see it anyway and it'll be a cute reminder of this moment :)

Practiced bass for an hour but once again couldn't drum up the motivation to practice tenor.
My plan now is to practice things during the breaks between Place Cachee sets at Epic. We'll see if this actually happens.

The rest of the night was quiet. Jameson made us hot dogs on the grill and we watched anime or gamed respectively.

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Monday and Tuesday: Working at Epic Universe. I wonder if anyone will record our shows? I hope so!

Wednesday: Subbing in at the Magic Kingdom.

Thursday: A "day off" that would have been a lesson with Will, but he's got surgery so we've cancelled.

I'm also supposed to be learning how to do civil court cases for my transcription job, but add that to the list of things I'm unmotivated to do right now.

Monday, good lord I was tired.
I'm a 90% sedentary person, so all this dancing around and tromboning in the sun for 8 hours a day + 12,000-17,000 steps feels like a lot. But it's gonna be eight days of it so I'd better adjust.

A little extra coffee was helpful.

Today was special because we got to rehearse in our actual performance spot!
Which of course I can't describe, womp womp NDA.
Also, it is in direct sun for the entire day from about 10am to 4pm, and that is going to be...tough. Because we have to be period-appropriate, and there weren't sunglasses in the 1920s in Paris (well they existed, but only as a treatment for syphilis.)
But we did fine, we just had to take breaks from the sun. When we are doing shows and not rehearsals, we will be outside for shorter periods of time......though it'll be hotter then too. Can't win haha.

I had a special thing happen: I might have made a change to the show!
While watching some of our actions/acting, I decided to have my character do something that *I* would do. It was just a small thing, but due to the timing it made everyone laugh uproariously. And to our surprise the show director didn't tell us to leave it out, so the next two casts copied it, and THEY weren't told to remove it either. So maybe it's in now? I'd love it if we could keep it. If so, it would be my own little contribution to this creation. And if not, it'll be a lovely memory.

We were released a little early, partly because it had been a hot day and partly because a lot of us have other gigs going on this week and the show director didn't want us "blowing our brains out" by which he means overplaying and injuring ourselves. I got home before 7pm (so rare!) and packed breakfast-lunch-dinner. practiced bass, all the usual.

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Tuesday, we had a slow start to the day because there was a lot of activity in our part of the "world."

We did rehearse in Our Actual Spot, but only briefly; there was a lot of painting going on and this time instead of fumes we could actually taste the paint in our mouths each time we finished playing. Like, there were particles in the air. It was totally gross and after a while between that and the dust we couldn't stand it and ended up moving. But then in the other spot we kept having to move for the cherry pickers, then a helicopter came and essentially sat on top of us making a big racket (and also probably getting footage that they shouldn't have of us rehearsing!) so our show director got exasperated and were dismissed to lunch early.

I used my lunch break to hit Whole Paycheck for my usual treats, since there is no day off for me this week.

When lunch was over we were able to do a few show run throughs, and we also enjoyed our first wand/spell tutorial!
Another show director (Pishta? Pasha?) came over from the Fantastic Beasts stage show to teach us (our director doesn't know Harry Potter lore.) We learned that there is a specific way to handle your wand involving three steps, which can be learned by reading the Cast-a-Spell Handbook.

Step 1: "Holster." The wand is in its holster and you grasp it.
Step 2: "???" I forget what this one was called but it was something obvious like "prepare to cast a spell" haha. Removing the wand from the holster and holding it in an upright position, not pointing it at anything/anyone.
Step 3: " Prime." Choosing your target and pointing your wand at it. You also have to consider the size of the thing you're casting the spell on, and whether you want the spell to effect the whole target or just part of it, because this determines how large or small your wand gestures are.

Then, you cast your spell. Make the gesture as described or illustrated, making sure to say the words in time with your gestures. It's also kind of a "swish, swish, flick" motion involving much wrist, and you only get your whole arm involved if you're trying to cover something big.

We broke into pairs and practiced casting offensive and defensive spells, making sure to follow the holster--???--prime pattern both before and after each spell. I can't share which spells we cast in our show, but rest assured that they're REAL Wizarding World spells that do exist in the lore of Harry Potter, so it's important that we get it right. We have to at least look like we're aware of the basics.



Then we took another field trip to Dark Universe!

This time we were inside the burning windmill, which is a restaurant called the Burning Blade Tavern.

(image directly from Universal website)

It's a small, dark, cool restaurant with low ceilings and low lighting. Again, going to be very popular in the Florida heat solely based on those things. There are additional artistic/immersive details about the building itself that are REALLY cool, that again I don't dare share as it could violate my NDA. We all looked around and exclaimed over the thoughtfulness of these little details, and I think guests observant enough to catch these things will appreciate them too!

It was pretty crowded, as other entertainment departments were there to be an audience, too.
Cannot share what the performer experience was like, and we don't even know if they'll actually take place in The Burning Blade or if we were just doing it there for convenience/construction purposes today. I can share that it was the same type of performance that we got to see last week, same performers, only now they've had more practice and everyone seemed more comfortable with the materials. It was quite fun :)

Back at the employee hub, we thought it would be nice to get a group photo at the Epic Universe countdown clock.
This is pretty much the only "backstage" area where we had been told we're allowed to take photos.


(other Entertainment Department group photos currently up on UOTMLife IG account)

Unfortunately, there was a security guard there preventing anyone from taking photos at the clock.
We showed him the existing, public, Universal-sanctioned images above, and he did not care.
So I guess we're not doing that. A shame, but at least the groups pictured above got their feet in the door before it closed.

In the evening there was some sort of special event for which music was wanted, so "the PR Trio"--that is, the three of us that have been most consistent with performances--were asked to stay late to give a performance. The rest of us bopped back home.

Jameson has been in a low mood lately and may be coming down with something.
I packed breakfast-lunch-dinner and practiced bass and we had a quiet night as usual.

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Wednesday, I felt pleased because this is the last day that all of us will be together at rehearsal. From today on, we've all got other gigs and commitments, and Friday will signal an end to full-time rehearsals. Yay! Don't get me wrong, I've appreciated the work and the money, and I have learned SO MUCH. It has been well worth the experience, and I'm looking forward to actually opening our show in the park!


BUT I am so incredibly behind on other parts of my life. I've barely spent any time with Jameson. I haven't cooked a single meal for almost a month. I've had to eat dinner WHILE driving every night for OVER a month. Not to mention the house chores being all backed up, and ACTUAL practice for my other gigs including Disney and the upcoming tour getting neglected. There is so much else that I need to do, and I am very much looking forward to not having every moment of my time defaulting to Epic Universe.

Anyway, today was a weird one because there were Warner Brothers executives in the park. We rehearsed indoors for a little while, then took it outside to dodge some cherry pickers and do some full runs.

After lunch the executives had made it to our part of the park, so the "PR trio" of musicians was asked to put on a show for them. They did an amazing job especially with the sun beating down on them. After that show was over the execs kind of took over the area where we play...it's an excellent photo op. We waited for a while to see if they would leave, but they didn’t seem to want to go anywhere else and we couldn’t really rehearse without disturbing them. So we went back up to the break room, had a little powwow, and at that time we presented our show director with a small gift: a tobacco pipe imported from France! I have no idea if the guy smokes or not, but it was one of our clarinetist’s ideas and we all went with it. Regardless, the show director seemed happy with the gift. We said our goodbyes and parted ways, leaving about 30 minutes early.

There are still several days of full-time rehearsal left, but this is the last time that all of us will be together. I wish that we’d been able to take a group photo, have a cast party, or memorialize the occasion in some way. But it’s OK, I’m sure that we will all see each other again in passing!

Even though they let us go 30 minutes early, all it meant for me was sitting in traffic for an additional 30 minutes. Driving in Orlando is absolutely horrific. I was looking forward to having extra time to pack my lunch and relax, but got home at the same time as I would have on any other day. Figures.

Got caught up with Jameson, packed breakfast-lunch-dinner for Disney, and did not practice bass because Jameson was talking to me while I was packing meals so it took me way too long to finish. No big deal, I usually take one night a week off from it anyway.

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Thursday: Magic Kingdom with the Main Street Phil

Friday: Last day of full time rehearsal with Epic Universe + starting transcription again

Saturday: God bless that day off + going to see Alton Brown's show at Dr. Phillips!

Sunday & Monday: Back to back Main Street Philharmonic days.

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PS: 
A Beauty and the Beast casting announcement teaser post from Disney Theatrical...IYKYK

(CLICK HERE to see)

Ooh, Monday.

Like most who didn't vote for Trump, I spent the day avoiding media/socials and trying to pretend it was just another day while a bunch of tech billionaires watched their president get inaugurated.

All I can say is the same thing I said last time: I hope that four years from now, those who voted for him can look around and see how "great" America is "again" and feel satisfied.

Some of you seem to be expecting that things will get "better." That Trump will wave some sort of magic wand that lowers the cost of your groceries or something. Personally, I'd LOVE for things to get better for all of us poor cogs. But continuing to empower one of the worst humans on the planet and expecting him to do it for you, doesn't seem like it's going to work.

I mean, it definitely didn't work the first time.

I heard a quote this week from a Chinese person on social media: "Americans think they are free because they get to have opinions, but they don't get to have choice."

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What was I saying? Oh, Monday.


(A scale model of the entire Epic Universe park. It's so big that you can't get the whole thing in frame. CLICK HERE for a video of the model.)

Early morning, breakfast, rehearsal. We were supposed to be outside in our rehearsal space but it was cold even for Florida (54 with a windchill) plus they chose today to jackhammer the exact spot where we'll be performing, so that plan was ditched. Instead we got music/guidance for an interactive bit, and worked on that until lunch. Then we did a few play-throughs and more drumming stuff.

Afterward I went to Whole Paycheck for the hot bar since traffic was 5 minutes lighter than usual due to the national holiday. Back home, of course I was tired but packed lunch and dinner for the next day and then buckled down to do 30 minutes of bass trombone practice. Tomorrow I'll do both bass and Universal memorization (by packing dinner as well as lunch I hope to save some time getting home but we'll see.)

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Tuesday, the same routine. It rained all day so we were indoors and worked on a lot of blocking. In fact it was so much new blocking that by the end of the day my brain absolutely felt like it was melting out of my ear. After a point it feels like one cannot retain any more new info, and I was definitely at that point.

Packing dinner did save me a little time, only about 15 minutes but sometimes every little bit helps. At home I took the recycling out, practiced bass, did a load of laundry, downloaded some new show files from our Dropbox, and packed my lunch for tomorrow. I did not try to do more Universal memorization, recognizing that my brain was fried for today. I can see some improvement in the bass by doing these little 30 minutes sessions, which was cheering :) And I didn't pack dinner because tomorrow I'll get the egg white avo sandwich from Panera and call that dinner.

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Wednesday wash rinse repeat, except we started the day with a French diction/accent coach (I think it's no secret that the Ministry of Magic part of the park is set in 1920s Paris so there ya go.) She only got a little time to work with us today but it was quite helpful.

Most of the day was spent playing through our full set multiple times, taking turns, which was a best case scenario for me. Having one group perform gave other groups time to air-play along and memorize, which is exactly what I've needed to do. As a result I've definitely got more than half the music memorized and am in good position to reach my goal of having everything memorized by February.

It was cold enough that it could have snowed (39°F which could have given us a wet mushy snow) so we were indoors all day. I wonder if this storm system will be past by Friday so we can spend some time in our performance spot.

At home I did the same thing, packed lunch and dinner for tomorrow and took the trash out and practiced the bass and then slammed through about half of my Main Street Phil music at double speed just to make sure it still resides in my brain.

Flyover of the current construction at Epic Universe, taken about a week ago (I'd turn the sound off, it's annoying.) Can you tell which world is which? I think How to Train Your Dragon world and Super Nintendo world are the most visually impressive.



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Thursday and Friday: More of the same I assume.

Saturday: Hoping to take Jameson out to celebrate him having his stitches out! And chores and practicing.

Sunday: More chores and practicing, possibly making caramels and a visit to my friend Bill who repaired my bass, to return the case he lent me and give him some caramels.

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We spent Monday mostly on a charter bus to Erie.

NETworks charters only one bus, so the majority of us have to share seats. I got lucky because one of our trumpet players is traveling with his girlfriend this city, so I ended up seated by myself. Spent the first half of the ride air-tromboning through a show that I'm hoping to do next year.

The rest stop was in Cleveland, at a mall that was really more of a business/transit center. So instead of following the herd inside, I walked a few blocks to a Constantino's Grocery. This is a family-owned chain, I've been to the one in KCMO and it's quite good. This one was small but had a hot bar, so I got to enjoy Italian sausage with peppers and onions for lunch.

Back on the bus and about two hours later we arrived at our hotel, about four miles from the theatre but conveniently close to a shopping area including a Giant Eagle grocery store. I was surprised to find new flavors of some of my favorite products here!


Also, since we're in PA, there are big jars of pickled eggs on the shelves.
If you haven't experienced these, it probably sounds weird, but they are SO GOOD. IYKYK.
The beet eggs are my absolute favorite. I've never had the mustard ones and want to try them someday.


Got my goodies back to the hotel and spent the rest of the night desperately trying to finish this transcription.
I'm on the last hour of audio, and hope to be done by tomorrow. Then begins the edit/review process.

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Up early on Tuesday to have the free hotel breakfast and work on transcription.
There was lots of good stuff to steal at this breakfast including bagels, Nutella, peanut butter, and chocolate chips. They also had a chocolate raspberry coffee, which was very good and strangely nostalgic to drink (my stepmom was into flavored coffees so that's what I drank when home for Christmas. Back when, you know, everyone was alive.)

I got to lunchtime and STILL was not done with transcribing this godforsaken case.
( Gotta rant )

TL;DR I finished the transcription around 1:30pm.

Walked around outside a bit even though it was quite cold, just to clear my head and move a bit after sitting in an uncomfortable chair all morning. Soon enough it was time to ride the bus to the theatre (we are about 6 miles away here.)

It's a pretty old theatre.


Here is Neil with an absolute HEDGE of woodwinds. There are ELEVEN (11) instruments in this photo. (To be fair, the oboe is not used in the show, he brought it for personal practice.)


I'm always blown away at how versatile and skilled woodwind players are for being able to switch between so many instruments (in this case it's 5 instruments each.) But also, this makes me sad because there should simply be more musicians in the pit to play all of these. But, you know, then you'd have to PAY them.

The backstage area at this theatre is renovated, so there were nice bottle fillers and modern facilities ("renovation" is always the preferred word to hear over "restoration" haha.) And once again this week I had my own dressing room!!


In all my years of touring and performing, I've had my own dressing room less than ten times.
Usually I'm either forgotten about and left with the male band, or I am put in the female ensemble dressing room (both of these options are completely fine with me, btw.) Having my own little space for the duration is a luxury, but also makes me feel a bit lonely, like I'm my own species or something. It doesn't much matter because I rarely use dressing rooms anyway.

The sound check and show went well. The drums were remoted (in a separate room and watching the MD via a video feed) so we were all worried about the tempos, but everything was surprisingly all right. After the show I packed up my trombone and practice mute and brought them to the hotel so I can run Disney music tomorrow.

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Wednesday I was up at 7 to do laundry, eat breakfast, and buckle down on finally getting this transcription project out of my face.

It took until 2pm to finish transcription review. God DAMN. I hope to never get a case like that again (but I probably will.)

Absolutely had to lie down and take a nap after that. There was no avoiding it.
Then got ready for the show and practiced my Disney music, only getting through half of it before dinnertime.
At the theatre, gave my trombone a bath since I've got this nice dressing room at my disposal and it has hot water.

Here's a random picture of the "remoted" drum setup this week.
The drummer can see the conductor via that little monitor, and hear us through his Aviom.


Someone put a candy cane at each of our spots tonight...perhaps Production again?
It was a kind thing to do. I decorated my mic with it.


The show went well, no shenanigans. That's a wrap in Erie, PA.

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Thursday: All-day bus ride from Erie, PA to Stamford, CT. There is a Japanese grocery close to the hotel/theatre and I hope to get dinner there!

Friday: Hopefully a day to just take a walk and decompress. I need it.

Saturday and Sunday: Two shows each. My sister is supposed to come out for a matinee but we will see.

By the time you read this it'll be the last day of September.

I have many hopes for October, but cooler weather tops the list.

Thursday I was up at 7:30 to eat breakfast and prepare for a long work day in the midst of a Hurricane-Sort-Of.
The storm was a Cat 2 but still a long ways from landfall. It was rainy and windy this morning but that's not really a reason for businesses to close, you know? So after breakfast and packing up everything I'd need for the day I trundled off to Disney.

(image thefted from DisneyFood Blog)

The park was more or less fully open and it didn't even rain, it was just blustery. We did two sets and a full parade. I was grateful to get so much playing time :) The only accommodation that we made for the weather was removing the feather plumes from our hats to avoid having them blown off our heads.

I brought all of my transcription stuff and was able to access Disney wifi. I didn't get a lot done but did set up all of my cover pages. This was more of an experiment to see if I COULD do this work here, and I can!

Our third set was canceled because at that point there were wind gusts above 30mph (48kmh) and while the trumpets and trombones can weather that, sousaphones and drums not so much :/ I used the extra time to take a shower under the castle so I'd be somewhat refreshed before my hat shop shift. Hurricane Helene was now a Cat 3, but nothing here in Orlando was closed. It was pretty clear that the storm wouldn't be reaching us, just some of the outer bands.

Today's hat:


I took this picture as I was clocking out to go home. There were a lot more people out and about than I expected in this weather...but who wants to buy a hat during a hurricane? As a result I was sent home early, at 9pm instead of 11pm. So ultimately the hurricane only cost me two hours of a 12-hour work day. Which says a lot about how concerned Central Florida felt about this hurricane (not at all.)

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It was wind and rain all night, but nothing worse than that. In the morning I was up before Jameson and went out on the lanai to see if there were any screens missing. Not only was nothing damaged, even my sad broken banana tree was still standing, complete with fruit.

And then I saw this little fellow clinging to our lanai screen! Finger for scale. Google says he is a baby box turtle, but I think Google is wrong and that it's a striped mud turtle.


More pictures of his face and tummy and shell. He is so cute!!



Not sure how he got up onto the screen. Maybe he was blown by the storm, or climbed to avoid a predator. After admiring him I let him go among some mulch where I thought he'd be well camouflaged while he made his escape. When I went back later to see if he was still there, he was gone. Either he's pretty speedy or a predator got him after all.

I fertilized the petunia and had breakfast, then did transcription for an hour or so. Ate lunch and drove aaaallll the way out to Apple at Millenia Mall to see if they could either fix or replace my phone.

The store was insanely busy. See THIS video to get a taste of what my day was like, and what it's like to shop ANYWHERE in a tourist/hospitality city. The video was taken during "the holidays" but this is exactly how busy it was today.

Anyway, I had to wait for someone to become available in that noisy, crowded store. 30 minutes after my appointment time a young man came around to help me out. Without hesitation he picked up my phone, turned it on it's side, and pointed to the edge where the screen meets the metal body. The screen was bulging outward ever so slightly (like this.) Because my phone is always in it's case, I hadn't even noticed.

"Your battery is swollen," he said.
WOW I felt stupid for not having seen it!

But I also felt angry at Best Buy all over again (see bottom of previous post). This was a problem you could SEE, and those f*ckers hadn't even bothered to look! How they get to call themselves "Apple authorized" is beyond me.

I texted Jameson to say that my phone was in repair and I'd be unreachable, then handed my Literal Connection To All Things In This World to the associate and wandered off into the mall in "analog mode." I hadn't brought any other devices: no extra phone, no smart watch, no ipad or tablet or laptop. Nothing. It was me and my water bottle.

The main thing that shocked me, out here in Analog Mode, was realizing that there are no clocks, anywhere. I did two laps of the mall, both floors, and did not see one public wall clock, not even on the LED directory screens.

The other exasperating realization was that without my phone, I had nothing to DO. I should've at least thought to bring a physical book for f*ck's sake. As I walked I noticed an elderly man reading a real paper newspaper, and felt actively jealous!

But you know what? Other than an occasional pang of anxiety at the thought of someone needing to reach me and being unable to, being without my phone was actually quite nice. I walked at random and looked at stuff. I felt no pressure to post or share. I sat and openly people-watched, because everyone was, of course, on their phones, and so no one NOTICED that I was people-watching.

As an 80's kid, of course I remember growing up without technology. And also the gradual, decades-long timeline of becoming more and more dependent on technology. All the way up to today, when being without my phone for a mere 60 minutes forced me to realize how much I rely on it for REALLY important things, like staying in touch with family or getting directions to or from a place. Or checking the damn time!

When my internal clock piped up ("It's probably been about an hour, right?") I went back to the Apple store and gave one of their display iPads a poke. It told me that indeed, my internal clock was right and I'd killed 50 minutes. I queued back up with my repair ticket, retrieved my Literal Connection To All Things In This World, and checked my texts. Thus ended 60 minutes of phonelessness.

I stopped by Total Wines to see if they had a certain rum that Jameson likes (they didn't) and had a snack from a nearby Thai place, then drove home through rush hour traffic. The whole thing took about four hours, two of which were the drive. Sigh.

Back home I swept hurricane debris from the driveway, emptied the dishwasher, had dinner, and received an email from NETworks asking me to download a specific app which they use to send ALL tour information. See, SEE how integral phones are? Without my phone/this app, I couldn't see my coworkers' contact info, the rehearsal schedule, the travel schedule, the hotel bookings, and loads of other extremely important information that I need to do my job. Isn't that crazy when you stop to think about it?

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Saturday I got up early to get bagels from my favorite shop. While waiting for Jameson to wake up I did a little transcription, then switched to tromboning because it was bugging me that I haven't practiced Elf in like a week. After that back to transcription.

I'd meant to cook dinner but wasn't feeling it, so we had Chuy's taco salads.
After dinner I worked on my Foodie Finds for Elf, now that we've got the hotel info that gives me more context.

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Sunday, I was up early to do transcription, pack work snacks, and make overnight oats for tomorrow before Jameson was up. Once he was up I'd planned to switch to practicing trombone, but changed my mind and just stuck with transcription for the morning. By noon I had only 30 minutes of the two hours of audio remaining, which I think is good considering the thing isn't due until Saturday. My goal in getting the extra processing time (aside from feeling stressed) was to have time to listen to the WHOLE case a second time and check it for errors. I won't always be able to do that, and figure if I do it at least once I'm bound to learn things and find mistakes which I can try to remember for future cases.

Anyway, lunch and then tromboning and getting dressed for work.

Today's hat will be in the next post since I've got the closing shift at the hat shop tonight.

In closing, have a firefly petunia pic from a few nights ago.
I'm starting to feel stressed about moving it outside, and wish it would just get below 90°F outside ffs!!


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Monday: Finishing the transcription, trombone practice, cooking dinner.

Tuesday: Hopefully reviewing my work + trombone practice + night shift at the hat shop.

Wednesday: Submitting my transcription job + tromboning and getting some kind of exercise I hope.

Thursday: Night shift at the hat shop.

Sunday's Hat:


Yes, I've worn the baseball cap version of this bejeweled bucket hat, with the same shirt.

We got a load of new cloche hats for fall. Cloches are good on me so I'll definitely try them all.

The shift was "normal," nothing to report. I helped to close the store...Carter (keyholder) went to the sock kiosk to help them close, Jordan (keyholder) finalized our drawers and re-sorted most of the sized hats, and I swept, mopped, wiped the mirrors and windows, and helped with hat re-sorting.

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Monday I checked on all of my plants. Will have to bring the pineapple and lemon in under the overhang of our roof for the next few days, they've had more rain than they'd like. It feels like the bananas have been growing forever; I keep checking them to see if they've started yellowing but so far they're all still green. I wonder how much longer it'll be. (Edit: Have looked back, and it's only been about two months! They've got at least 2-3 months to go!)

The petunia is not doing well outdoors, it's yellowing and wilting so I'm bringing it back inside. Very annoyed because I've been following "internet advice" about how to care for it, and every time I take that advice my plant seems to get worse. Most people are probably thinking of their own climates and needs when giving advice, not considering, you know...FLORIDA.

Today's hat is one of the new felt cloche hats in grey and black. Sadly it's not a great fit but I do like the style anyway.


The big excitement today was a guy who bought two Panama hats from me, then came back later and bought three more! Each Panama hat in our store is AT LEAST $120, most range from $180-$300. And he casually bought five. Needless to say we reached and exceeded our sales goal primarily due to this Panama Hat Mogul.

I also discovered my pet peeve about working at the hat shop: large organized groups (bridal showers, birthday parties, etc) packing into the shop not to buy anything, but to have a free photo op.

We had two such groups last night and despite my best effort to smile and put on a good face I could not have been more angry and annoyed. It's between 8-20 people cramming into our tiny shop, all wearing matching "I'm with the Birthday Girl" shirts or those stupid bridal shower sashes or whatever; then going to the shelves and grabbing the zaniest hats they can find, ripping the delicate handmade fascinators off their clips and damaging them, throwing hats on the floor or on random shelves after each photo. Taking up a massive amount of floor space to do photo ops, forcing everyone to squeeze around them. Twenty grown-ass adult women, screaming and squeeing and making duck faces for the camera. And then they leave the store in an absolute mess that we have to clean up while actual customers are waiting to be helped.

"It's my special day!" is not an excuse to devolve into a selfish pig.

When the second group like this came in last night (a bunch of teens, for someone's birthday) I stayed as far on the opposite side of the store as possible and made myself busy. Not sure if my coworkers noticed my avoidance, and I don't really care. I signed an employment contract to sell hats and provide excellent CUSTOMER service, not to babysit. If someone's there to shop or ask directions or even complain about something, I'll always be kind, and I'll be happy to clean up after people. But I'm not going to hover around these groups who are obviously NOT shopping and force a smile while they damage the merch right in front of my face for a photo op.

The social expectation, I'm sure, is for us to be good little retail slaves, bend over, and take it. But I think everyone who has followed this blog knows that when it comes to socially-expected groveling, sugar-coating, and spoon-feeding, I'm pretty much the worst.
Anyway. Majority of the night was fine and writing about this gets it off my chest for the moment.

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Tuesday I was up early for Papa Pals. Both visits were at the same memory care facility that I visited last week.

( Papa Pal Visits )

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

On the way home I stopped for groceries, treating myself to these huge muscadine grapes.


We had a wild muscadine in the backyard when I was little, and my sisters and I would eat them while playing outside. They were small, tough, and chewy, with tart fruit and sweet but tannin-filled skins that made one's mouth feel funny. But they tasted great and I loved the chewy texture of them. These are not as tart or chewy as my childhood grapes, but the skins taste the same and they definitely give me nostalgia to eat :)

For dinner I made keto empanadas again, in which the empanada dough is replaced with ground chicken and filled with whatever-you-feel. Last time I followed a recipe that was jalapeno popper inspired; this time I invented my own "pizza poppers," filling each one with mozzarella and cheddar cheeses, little mushroom pieces, and pepperoni. Coated them in parmesan cheese and spices, and air friend 'em. They were pretty good but next time I want to season the chicken better.

Before bed I got a message from a coworker asking if I'd cover his shift. Yes! That would bring me up to 29 hours for the week and I could use the money.

Now that the petunia is back inside I'm doing some photo ops again :)



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Wednesday I woke to find that my coworker had taken his shift back so I was stuck with my day off again. Not that I don't appreciate a day off, too. I'd planned to cram in all sorts of chores and some exercise, but it was thundering by lunchtime so I practiced trombone for longer than usual, watched the Cubs game with Jameson (it was a riveting one,) and kind of didn't do much all day.

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Thursday: The plan is to go for a walk, practice, shop for cheap shirts and fall scents at Marshalls, and cook dinner.

Friday: Jameson is going to a friend's party in Miami for the night, so while he's gone I'll dust our bookshelf and vacuum, practice, night shift at the hat shop.

Saturday: No plans except night shift at the hat shop.

Welp!

Once again it looks like I'm about to be unemployed.

A few days ago our workplace surprised us with an announcement that we'd be training an AI...very obviously to take over our jobs. So I did all that I could including

- Started aggressively applying for work elsewhere
- Continued doing as much work as I could at the existing job
- Signed up for all sorts of gig economy apps in preparation for unemployment
- Kept a careful eye on the company chats

Last night it was announced that there will be a "restructuring." Part of this will be the creation of eight full-time AI Quality Control Specialist positions...to replace the part-time Account Editor jobs (myself and my coworkers.) They are going to interview for the eight available positions this week, make their choices, and start their eight people on Monday.

I have to assume that this means if I'm not one of the few selected for full-time work, I'll be out of a job after the weekend.

So, if any of you have ideas for jobs--either remote or in/near Four Corners, Kissimmee, Clermont, or Orlando in Florida--I'd appreciate your suggestions.

Things that I'm already trying:

- Instacart (waitlisted)
- Doordash (waitlisted)
- Uber Eats (waitlisted)
- Amazon Flex (waitlisted)

- Papa Pal (Am already on their roster and will pick up work when it's available)
- Prolific (Already doing this, it only brings in pocket money at most)
- I have a Notary Public license that has thus far proved useless.

- Grocery stores (all including Target, Walmart, Publix, ALDI, Sprouts, Whole Paycheck, etc)
- Remote and in person data entry, admin, office
- Kennels and pet boarding, including previous workplaces
- All non-Disney theme parks, whatever jobs are available
- Government jobs for my local City/County, and attending a job fair next Friday for this as well
- Retail sales jobs that are not commission-based
- Checking tour, venue, and music-related sites for jobs (including local theaters, sports arenas, etc)
- Checking museums, tourist attractions, zoos, etc.
- I've applied to and passed several employment evaluations for transcription companies and have never once been actually called to do transcription, so please don't suggest this, I'm not going to waste time on it any more if there's no work in this field to be had.

...and I've applied for the existing position at my current job.

Things that I'm NOT doing right now:

- Waitressing/restaurants, because the pay is horrific + it's a massive energy suck, so I'm trying to avoid until I can't any more.
- Teaching music. I have a master's degree but absolutely zero teaching experience or background, this was never what I wanted to do with the degree or my life so please don't suggest this one.
- Overnight/3rd shift jobs. I will start applying to these if I have to but we're not at that point yet.
- Rideshare (Uber, Lyft): This would be a good option if I did not live in Orlando or if I lived anywhere near the airport. I may reconsider this later on if none of the food delivery options work out.
- Recertifying in something, out of my own pocket. If you would like to pay for my recertification by all means, PM me and we can set up a PayPal or Zelle deposit.

That's all I can think of for now. If anyone has suggestions to add to what I'm already doing, I'll listen and promise not to snark (for as long as I can, so until eighteen of you come to the comments to tell me I should be teaching.)

Also, if you have suggestions for things that a person who enjoys data entry might recertify in, that doesn't cost a fortune or years to qualify for and is not likely to be replaced by AI in the next five years, I'm all ears for that as well.

Thursday, another ho-hum.

Up at 7, breakfast, data entry, lunch, trombone, data entry.

Somewhere in there someone came to repair our lanai screen because the vacationers next door were throwing water balloons at each other and broke one of the screens. They seem like a nice family and had no malicious intent, and the property owner sent someone to fix it immediately...but waking up to a broken screen with no note, no knock on the door to let us know or be accountable...was kind of sh*tty. Whatever, it's fixed, just...between this and the toilet situation, it didn't feel great. Getting a toilet installed should not take days and weeks. Getting someone to fess up to a simple broken screen shouldn't take multiple phone calls, or require constant vigilance against our neighbors. It's frustrating and tiring.

Data entry all day, and I'd meant to make us dinner but didn't allow time for grocery shopping so it'll have to wait until tomorrow. Instead I picked up Chick-fil-a which is right across from Lowe's and whoopsie I somehow ended up in the garden section and the next thing I knew there was a jalapeno plant in my cupholder. How did that get there?? :p

The day ended without a new toilet installation appointment. I'm guessing it'll be another week, at least, of sharing a toilet. I don't mind that, but do mind the sewage-smelling hole in the guest bathroom floor.

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Up at 6am so that I can "make up for" the crime of needing an hour to pick up groceries for dinner.

Gosh I am in some kind of negative mood this week, aren't I. Here, look at my newly-potted jalapeno.


Managed an hour of data entry, then went to the grocery to get that over with.
Unpacked and was back to data entry by 9am.
Hit my six hours by 4pm, so worked on an application for Publix.

Yeah the grocery store. Why, you ask? Crossroads Live has just moved My Fair Lady to it's "Past Shows" section on the website. So if the show is marked inactive/past production, we're probably NOT going to China. And there has been no word of any other tours requiring trombone. And it's almost July. And I'm an unskilled garbage.

But if I work at Publix, maybe I'll get a grocery discount!
Useful to have in late-stage capitalism.
However I doubt they'll stoop to considering me.

Dinner was a broccoli chicken cheddar casserole, recipe from Half-Baked Harvest.
It's slightly healthier than a traditional such casserole because A) white meat lean chicken, B) no cream or canned soup, it's milk and low sodium broth instead, C) veggie noodles (it's supposed to be wheat but I couldn't find any,) and D) less cheese.

Ingredients are chicken breast, broccoli, tricolor rotini, onion, carrot, mushroom, garlic, thyme, broth, milk, a little butter, spices, cheddar cheese.


The cheesy pull (CLICK HERE to see)

It was quite good. Next time I'd put in effort to shred my own cheese as there was a bit of graininess (sometimes this happens due to anticoagulants in pre-shredded cheese) but everything else was lovely.

I felt pretty depressed tonight re: My Fair Lady, but applied for some more jobs and tried to cheer myself up by making plans for my upcoming Actual Two Days Off.

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Saturday, was up at 7am instead of 6 (lazy Millennial, no wonder you don't have a job.)

Before going to bed last night I'd been chatting with two places that have small Meyer lemon trees. Option 1 is an individual in downtown Orlando who is a hobby/side gig grower, Option 2 is an actual plant nursery way out in Dade City.

Not sure which I'll visit...guess I'll decide when I wake up on Sunday.

Meanwhile our MD from My Fair Lady posted that he's "unexpectedly free from August through May," so that confirms it, My Fair Lady is closed. Womp womp. I'll apply to more jobs tonight, and will make a plan to restart digital court reporting training post-Independence Day. Meanwhile I spent my afternoon doing data entry in a bad mood.

While practicing the Mary Poppins Medley FedEx arrived with a trombone for me! From my friend and former Bandmaster Brett, my boss on the circus. He insisted that I try one of his horns out before spending $$$$ on one, and sent it for free. I played it for the rest of my practice session. It's pretty good, but to be honest visually it's kind of a mess. I'll have to ask if I'm allowed to play it in the park, or if it looks too beat up.

I was so happy to hit my 30 hours of data entry. Now I will have a real weekend!!

It was pouring outside and traffic was horrific so we stayed in and ate leftovers.

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Sunday, my weekend started off with an attempt to sleep in! I made it to 8am.

After breakfast I decided to see the local hobbyist gardener's lemon tree first. They gave me a residential address and as I reached their street it was quite apparent which was their house: the one that looked like an absolute JUNGLE lol.

A lovely Indian woman and her toddler answered the door. She tisked over one lemon plant (which I thought was just fine) and pulled out another which looked even better and had three lemons already growing on it! I was happy to take it, and she walked me around to show her other plants which all looked beautiful and well cared-for. I was especially impressed by a beautiful mango tree laden with fruit, and a copse of lime trees so covered in limes that they seemed to have more fruit than leaves!

I asked about pineapple plants (why not) and she said she only had one left and it wasn't in good condition, she'd give it to me at a discount. I gratefully accepted and loaded my new "plant kids" into my car. Success!

Back home I showed the plants to Jameson over lunch, then we went to Lowes together for marigolds to plant along the side of the house (we've had them before but they died in the dry spell last month.) Shockingly Lowes was OUT of marigolds! But Jameson saw a large ornamental ginger plant that he liked so we got that instead. I also saw a pineapple plant WITH a fruit on it, so had to get it!

Jameson's ornamental ginger:


My new plant collection: pineapple, jalapeno, Meyer lemon.


The lemon tree especially has my heart. I was very fond of my little tree, which I've had for about three years and which gave me huge golden lemons without fail every winter. And this tree came from a lovely person who took great care of it. I'll try to do right by it.


The other pineapple not pictured because A) it's in bad condition and B) it has two pups! So I need to separate them out and re-pot everyone. I did re-pot the Lowes pineapple, but realized that I'd gotten the wrong soil; pineapples need sandy aerated soil. So tomorrow I'll pick up the right kind.

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Tomorrow is still "the weekend" for me, and current plan is to go thrifting, pick up what I need at Lowes, get dinner ingredients, repot the plants, practice trombone, and cook dinner for us.

The rest of the week we'll have 4th of July (no plans), I have a Disney day on the 6th, and more applying for jobs.

Monday I was up at 6am. I have two full Disney days this work week and a dentist appointment. Not sure how I will make my 30 hours for data entry but will do all that I can. Emailed my boss to let her know I may fall short, and the reasons.

Work, lunch, tromboning, work. I was surprised to find that by 3pm I'd logged 6 hours! I felt stiff and my eyes were watery from staring at a screen for the entire day, but this is the kind of week it's going to be.

Jameson was coughing a lot, and he had a long meeting that evening, AND he found out that the Potential Awesome Job he's been waiting to hear back about is most likely not going to happen (someone else hired someone else before his friend could recommend him for the job, if that makes any sense.) I am crushed for him. Every time he gets his hopes up things come crashing down. AND he's sick right now. My heart is breaking for him constantly lately :(

I got us pizza while he was in the meeting.

After dinner while we were trying to relax I had a text exchange with the person who'd intended to hire me as a digital reporter after My Fair Lady came to an end. He texted to ask whether I was still training for reporting. Nope, sorry my dude. We had agreed on a start date, then two weeks before that start date you told me I needed a two-month certification program. It was nice of him to offer to cover the cost of certification, but that still meant I was out of work until it was completed AND I had stopped applying for work because I'd thought I'd lined up a job AND I'd already bought all of the equipment needed to begin said job. But I ain't mad. I ain't mad.
 


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Tuesday I was up at 7am, not early enough for data entry before Disney but I really wanted that hour for sleep.

This time rehearsal was blocking (physical movement.) Our Encanto medley has actual choreography, so we mostly worked on that and then added When We're Human at the end because that one has just light choreo. The guys were patient and accommodating, and I did well, but moving + playing the trombone is not my strong suit so I felt uncomfortable.

The result was when we went out to do our first set, I didn't play my best. Not terrible, but I was more hesitant and timid than usual. On the upside my choreography for Be Our Guest, Under the Sea, and Wanna Be Like You was improved over last time.

I was excused from the parade (they feel I've done it enough to be comfortable and also Keith was bored and wanted to do it) so I used the time to practice Encanto blocking. Then we did one more set (musically much better, I was pleased) and then I FINALLY got to do the flag retreat for the first time. I was nervous but it went just fine.

As we were packing up my boss said if I could come to rehearsal on Thursday we could run Encanto again, then on my first day on my own (Saturday) we could perform it in the park. Of course I couldn't say no! But this would mean truly no time for data entry, so on the way home I canceled my dentist appointment to try and gain some time back.

No photos/videos this time because I didn't have anyone in the park to record today.

Jameson said his head was splitting all day, and along with the coughing I think he's got one of the covid variants. My poor cookie.

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Wednesday, 6am, data entry and breakfast, more data entry.

After lunch, buying new sunglasses because I dropped mine yesterday from waist height and they absolutely shattered. Cheap crap. If this next pair breaks I'll invest in, like, brand name ones.

Practicing, more data entry, packing a lunch and things for tomorrow's rehearsal.
It feels weird to have more than one Disney rehearsal in a week, but I sure am grateful for the money (one 8-hour day at Disney = 20 hours at my data entry job.)

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Tomorrow Disney rehearsal,
Friday data entry,
Saturday my first full day as a substitute musician at the Magic Kingdom.

Jameson had planned to come watch my first day, but if he's still sick of course he won't.
I was gonna make caramels for the guys in the band too, but because of the extra rehearsal I don't really have time and will push it off until my next full day, the 21st.