goofball on a train

Sorry for posting twice in a day (unusual for me) but I feel it's necessary.

I'm about to go on tour again, and having adventures always sparks an influx of new friends and interest in my journal posts.
That's great! But there are some things that new readers should know, and updates for longtime readers. 

Here goes.

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GENERAL STUFF

POST LENGTH: Lately I've had more complaints that my posts are too long. To help with this, I'm going to start posting more frequently such that each post will cover fewer days and therefore become shorter. I'll probably start doing this once tour starts. Hopefully that will be a help.

FRIENDS ONLY POSTS: My journal is mostly public, but every once in a while I want to write something more private and personal. My Friends Only posts are usually highly personal and cover things like family matters, introspections, life/work difficulties, or exclusive sneak peeks from my life as a musician. If you can see my Friends Only posts, it means that you are one of few people that I trust with my personal details and restricted content. Friends Only posts are NOT an invitation for unsolicited advice or critique. Please keep that in mind when you find yourself reading a Friends Only entry. Thank you.

PET PEEVES: Longtime readers know this already but for new readers, I have three pet peeves when it comes to this journal:

     1 - I REALLY do not like to be mansplained.
     2 - I REALLY do not like unsolicited advice.
     3 - I REALLY do not like being asked questions that show that you have not read my content (i.e. the answer to your question is right there in the post but you are too lazy to read it)

If you still feel a need to advise me or explain something to me, please consider A) ASKING if I've tried/thought of doing something instead of assuming that I haven't, and B) Choosing your words carefully, remembering that you're talking to someone with a lot of life experience, not a child who was just born yesterday.

COMMENTS: Believe it or not and despite the pet peeves above, I really do love the social aspect of journaling here. I like to hear your thoughts, learn about your life experiences, and answer your questions in the comments! It's easy to have a great conversation WITHOUT the pet peeves above. Let's just talk; let's just be friends.

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TOUR STUFF

IN-PERSON VISITS WHILE ON TOUR: I am ALWAYS willing to try and meet up with online friends while on tour! Keyword is TRY. If you'd like to hang out, please reach out at least few days ahead so that I can make time for you or see what's going on. Thanks!
ADDENDUM: Please don't be offended if I have to decline or cancel a visit. It is NOT personal. Touring is a lot of fun, but it's also WORK. Sometimes I need a day to rest and recover. Sometimes my schedule changes and I have to attend a rehearsal or take care of errands. Thanks for understanding this.

TICKETS TO SHOWS: In order to get you tickets, I'll need two things from you. Thing One: Reach out at least 3 days in advance to let me know that you'd like tickets. Thing Two: Tell me what DATE, TIME, and NUMBER of tickets you'd like. Once I have this info I can find out if I can offer you discounts, freebies, house seats, etc., but to do that I need this info FIRST. Thanks!

FREE TICKETS TO SHOWS: If I have free tickets available for you, I will offer them. If I have not offered free tickets, I DO NOT HAVE THEM and there is no point asking. Sorry!

SNEAK PEEKS/EXCLUSIVE ACCESS: I won't be allowed to bring people backstage or to the pit for Beauty and the Beast :( I am sorry but this is up to Disney, not me. Similarly, in this blog I will always share what I can and answer any questions that you may have about the show or tour life. That said, Disney is very protective of their content, and there will be times when I will not be allowed to share media or information. Please try to understand, and let's be appreciative of the exciting behind-the-scenes things that I WILL be allowed to share!
NOTE: My Friends Only posts sometimes include exclusive sneak peeks that are absolutely not to be copied or shared. If you can see my Friends Only posts, it means that you are one of few people that I trust with my personal details and restricted content. Please do not break that trust.

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That's all I can think of for now. I'll update this and repost it as needed.
Thank you so much for reading, and for coming along with me on this journey!

Thursday, work at Epic, the usual routine.

Super hot. We had hoped it would rain but sadly it did not, so it was just stiflingly humid.
Our sets were well attended however, and I saw Small Bee Photography there again, so perhaps we'll have some nice photos of our sets too :) It is so incredibly awesome of these pro photographers to give us FREE access to the images that they take.

At the final set there was a "show dump" happening right when we were going out to start our performance.
A "show dump" just means the audience is clearing out of the theatre and back into the street. The circus was dumping, and all the people who had just seen that show were pouring into our performance space in Place Cachee. We only have one handler and there was no way she could clear all those people out by herself.

(photo courtesy touringplans.com)

So I went out there as Phillipa, ahead of our cart and the handler.
Saw our tech fighting the sea of people to get to his audio spot.
Planted myself in the middle of the square packed with people, looked around, and shouted,
"AH, SACRE BLEU! I MUST TEST ZE ACOUSTICS IN ZIS SPACE!"


Put my trombone up and started playing short loud notes: "BAP BAP BAP"
...and a few longer ones right at eye level for good measure: "BLAAAAAAT"
While doing that, swinging slowly in a circle, forcing people to move away from my slide.

They scattered like roaches!

"Jules" came up behind me and parked the cart. "Wow!" he exclaimed, in character. "Zat was effective!"
I gave him a pleasant Phillipa smile. "Well! I do my best."

When our day was done I got ready to go see Mariah's band play downtown. I wiped myself down with a "bathing wipe" that I picked up ages ago somewhere on tour. Quicker than a shower, and ensured that I wouldn't clear out the venue with my stink. Had started to drive over there when Jameson sent me a long audio message. Turns out he's already being poached by another branch of Disney corporate. This is only his second day of work!!

This one is called Disney Live Entertainment (DLE) which is a part of Imagineering and for whom Jameson has interviews MANY times. They want him to be a producer for them, temporarily, on the Disney Magic cruise ship at the end of June! The ship will be in the Bahamas and there's a band he'll supervise during rehearsals. How cool! He was SO EXCITED.

This is the thing about Disney. Once your pinky toe is in the door, YOU ARE IN. Buckle up and prepare for liftoff.

Feeling happy for Jameson, I continued on to Judson's Live, the venue where Mariah's band Raspberry Pie was performing.
Ages ago I promised to come see her play, and was glad to be able to keep that promise :)

( Raspberry Pie at Judson's Live )
I decided to leave before the end of the second set, having been up since 5am and knowing that Jameson would want to talk my ear off about his exciting cruise ship opportunity. Got home and as predicted he had a lot to tell me! I listened as he described the job and how it had been offered, his speculations about what it would be like, etc, until midnight when we finally wound down.

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Friday, Jameson had to pop over to Disney to work out some technical issues with his logins, but he was back by lunchtime.

I had breakfast and hydrated, washed our sheets, made the bed, did laundry, typed this post, got ingredients for sesame chicken salad for dinner, got the chicken marinating, and made the spicy citrus dressing. I "should have" practiced but was feeling cranky, don't wanna, didn't. I was in a bit of a mood, perhaps from drinking too much the night before and not getting much sleep.

Ultimately I'm grateful that our non-standard lifestyle does generally allow large chunks of time to rest if I choose. From 2pm to 4pm I was able to doze, read, decompress, and try to gentle myself back into a pleasant mindset. I was 50% successful. Cooked the chicken and assembled the salads, which are napa cabbage, romaine, the sweet-spicy chicken, mandarin oranges, pomegranate seeds, toasted nuts (your choice), crispy wontons, avocado, sesame seeds, and a tangy citrus dressing. Jameson loves it and that makes me happy :)

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Saturday. I was kind of a slug. Breakfast and mostly practiced, spending 1 hour on Beauty and the Beast and 1 hour on the Chicago tribute band stuff. I am starting to (barely, sort of) feel better about the Chicago music, but will be happy when that gig is over with.

Jameson went for a walk, and we both kind of lazed around, then decided, why don't we use some more of our Disney Dining Discount coupons? We looked at the resorts, and Jameson recommended Flying Fish which is at the Boardwalk resort.

Got our reservations and drove over around 5, enjoyed looking around a bit, and were seated very quickly.
Very cute steak and seafood restaurant with whole schools of glass flying fish dangling from the ceiling.
We each got a drink (sauvignon blanc for me, vanilla bean bourbon for him) and I got the following:

Strawberry Gazpacho (vegan)


Ash-crusted Salmon with Herb Risotto, maitake mushrooms, baby turnips, greens, and shellfish broth
(I got too excited and dug in before remembering to take a pic)


Matcha Bavarian Cream with guava curd, sesame white chocolate, and vanilla panna cotta


Jameson had the shrimp cocktail appetizer, "Frutti di Mare" entree (assorted shellfish with pasta and red broth), and this Hazelnut Chocolate Bar that came with a golden truffle.


All of it was extremely good. The gazpacho was visually stunning and also amazingly complex in flavor, herby and tart and fresh. There were tiny cubed vegetables hidden in it. The salmon was very interesting, I assume it's capped in charcoal powder with maybe a little salt. The crust wasn't very flavorful but did give a fun smoky, crispy texture. The risotto was excellent, and I could have eaten those baby turnips in a bag as a snack lol. The matcha guava dessert was VERY good, matcha and guava go together quite well. Jameson's favorite was the shrimp cocktail which featured plump white wine-braised shrimp, though he loved the flavorful pasta in his main dish too. We both felt "meh" about the choco-hazelnut bar as it was kind of one-note; a little fruit would have been welcome with it, that's all.

Once again we were able to use a 50% off coupon. With tip it was probably about $100 each (in other words it would have been $200 without the coupon!) Very, very grateful for our castmember perks.

Back home I took time to move some of the furniture off the pool deck because we're having it sealed tomorrow.

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Sunday, Jameson kept kicking me in his sleep and almost kicked me out of bed!
So I finally just got up ahead of my alarm. Poo-head!

Had breakfast and then moved the heavier pool deck furniture outside of the screen, swept the pool deck.
The sealant guy came around 9:30 and after an amicable chat he got to work.
I had hoped to go for a walk, but received a surprise transcription job so plugged away at that instead (it was supposed to be sent on the 30th so I'm a bit annoyed that I've lost those days to work.)

Pool deck dude was done a little after noon. He always does an excellent job and is THE only contractor we've ever called back (three times now.) I always write him a very good Google review with pictures, so this time he asked me to take photos while he was working and made me promise to add them to my review, which I'm very happy to do. His work was $$$$ and it made me cringe, but I definitely couldn't do this myself and it took him 3 hours, and we only have to do it once every 3 years or so.

After that, lunch and trombone practice, all three sizes of trombone. Then back to transcription while Jameson watched the Cubs game.

Checked my email during a transcription break and was thrilled to see that the music coordinator for BATB has finally sent our music, and play-along tracks!! There are only TEN DAYS until tour begins, and I am seeing our actual music for the first time. Turns out, it's exactly the same as the Australian version. Wooooo!!

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Monday: Transcription, rehearsal for the all-chick Chicago tribute band.

Tuesday: Transcription, and finally getting this Chicago tribute band gig out of my face.

Wednesday: Transcription, packing for Epic, getting my trombone stands and mutes ready to ship to Schenectady.

When I was younger I could sleep until NOON.
What happened? Argh.

Up at 7, breakfast, and started organizing the guest bedroom. It's still chaos but now the chaos is in piles: stuff I'm still using to practice, stuff to bring to Epic this week, and stuff mounded into the big suitcase for bringing on tour.

I tried the new mutes and encountered a problem: they're too big!!
I was not expecting that, and don't remember it being an issue when I tried them at Will's house. Anyway, there wasn't much I could do but feel disappointed and send pictures to Ilan and try to coordinate with him for a return visit. He's going to try printing me some smaller ones, but either way I've got to return these, and now I'm out $200 and have NO mutes :(
Disappointed and annoyed with myself for not bringing my trombone to the initial visit to check that they'd fit. It never occurred to me that they might not.

Frustrated, I decided to take myself shopping for a new black shirt to bring on tour, but after driving 40 minutes to the nearest Macy's (in a plaza with an Old Navy, Ross, and Target) I failed to find a single black button-up shirt, between all of those stores.

Even MORE frustrated now, I went to World Market and found a few nice Snack Pod options and didn't even have to pay for them because I had a gift card. I used the HP from that to try visiting a tailor to see if they could shorten the strap on my crossbody bag, but they looked at me like I was insane and said they couldn't do it. So ultimately despite the World Market goodies I still went home annoyed and feeling like I didn't accomplish diddly poo.

Back home I did more packing and planning, ordered dinner for us when it was time, and tried to schedule myself a more productive day for tomorrow. Jameson had a frustrating day at work too. Today felt like we were spinning our wheels, but some days are like that and there's nothing for it but to learn from it and then keep on keepin' on.

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Tuesday, I managed to sleep in until 8:30 which is great because Wednesday will be a LONG day.

The usual routine, breakfast and when Jameson went to the gym I practiced. When he came back I went to the grocery for dinner ingredients, packed my meals for Epic tomorrow, and cleaned the bathrooms. Rested for a bit after that, then visited a different tailor about shortening my bag strap and he was able to do it while we chatted. My hero.

Back home I made dinner (Half-Baked Harvest sweet potato skins filled with spicy turkey, white cheddar, spinach, avocado) and chilled as much as I could.

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Wednesday was the Grand Opening at Epic Universe.

If you missed the livestream, here it is:



Up at 5am, started driving at 6:45, got good parking at 7:30.
Past security is the countdown clock. Here I am in front of it back in March:


...and here it is today. One day left. Wow!


Got into makeup and warmed up with the boys. Our first set was supposed to be at 9:30, but at 8:30 management came RUSHING in saying they needed us in costume and out there NOW.

So off we went. The cart had already been placed for us so we got into position for our first number and played it as a sound check. Then a short wait, then the media showed up so we launched into the top of our set.

We’d been asked to just play the first song again, but at the end of it we looked up and saw both stage manager and cameraman making the “keep rolling” gesture, so we kept going. And going, and going, until we’d finished a set. And then we restarted and played the top again! But after that they were done with us.

Later on we found out they’d only used about 8 seconds of footage, and it was all dialogue, no playing. Here it is (please excuse Mariah screaming in the background, she caught the footage and was excited)



Entertainment is so weird :p

It was, overall, a media day. No guests, just news outlets and streamers and influencers. Therefore when we went out for sets, it was a sea of cameras. Not just phone cameras: big expensive news cameras on stabilizers, high-fidelity cameras with huge $15,000 Canon lenses, fancy mics…one guy even got a boom mic over our heads during dialogue!

During the percussion number the media SWARMED Plume. Our poor handlers had to jump in and politely but firmly force people back. We are behind the cart during that bit and can’t really help. But no one was excessively rude and the excitement was understandable. Overall I think we handled it really well. I’m especially proud of myself for not having a panic attack (very common for me when lots of eyes are on me.)

We had two large breaks. I used the first one to practice bass, and the second to type this post and listen to music for the upcoming Chicago gig I’m dreading. And read my book :)

(The stairwell where I practice sometimes, when the warm-up room is occupied. Do not repost.)

I guess there were celebrities around, including the actors who played the Weasley twins and Professor Flitwick. I heard that Danny Elfman and Gerard Butler were around, and a retired basketball player of some notoriety. I don’t keep up on pop culture so didn’t much care, but it’s nice that the park is getting a high-profile opening.

(photo courtesy disneyfoodblog)

The evening sets were nice because the sun wasn't beating down and there was a breeze, but it was still very hot and humid. We had a few logistics snafus because this was the "gala" portion of the evening, and several food stalls were set up in our performance space that had to be moved. Still, this is all standard special event chaos. We did our set, and mostly got polite applause, but at that point people were too busy eating, drinking, and taking footage to actually interact with us.

We finished up just ahead of the fireworks, which was good because our land was in the fallout zone and they wanted us either out of the building or on lockdown by 9:45. I packed up quickly and got out of there, but enjoyed watching the Stardust Racers looping gracefully around each other, all lit up.

Here is the opening ceremony from the ground:



And I wanted to share what the lighting looks like with an aerial view as well. It's truly incredible!!
This person got test footage while staying in one of the hotels.



Whew. Long day! But it was an exciting privilege to be a part of a WHOLE NEW theme park's grand opening!
I was here from (almost) the beginning. We saw the Wizarding World being built around us. We have already spent more time in our part of the park than most people will in their lifetimes. Although my own experience is, frankly, overshadowed by the work I've found with Disney, it is still an incredibly special thing to be here in this moment. I have memories here that are an absolute treasure.

Although I couldn't find much footage of our trio by the end of the day, I'm sure it'll be forthcoming in the next few days. And tomorrow is the true Opening Day, when guests have full access to the fully open park for the first time. This park will change the theme park scene in Orlando--and possibly across the country--forever.

(youtube screenshot)

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Thursday: Day off. I'm returning my trombone mutes, resting, and preparing for a VERY CHAOTIC DAY at Epic Universe on Friday.

Friday: Work at Epic. Thoughts and prayers because it'll probably be batsh*t insane.

Saturday: Orlando Fringe with Jameson and friends!!

Sunday: Day off and I suspect I'll need it.

Up early again for Epic.

This time I went to Sprouts before work, because they have Spindthrift sodas and it turns out Jameson likes them :)

From there it was a normal morning, I was able to get a full hour of bass trombone practice before our sets which made me very happy.

The sets were all normal, but...there is already some pretty crummy behavior going on.
Universal is more of an "adult" park, which in some ways is a good and fun thing...and in some ways, opens the door to a lot of potential unpleasantness.

Today we had good crowds, but for the first two they were like TV audiences.
That is, we looked out onto a sea of phones. I felt like I was at a press conference or something.
And when we tried to interact we got no response or blank stares from most people.

Usually by the end of the set, if people stuck around that long, they'd start to warm up and clap and dance and whatnot. But not everyone stays that long; a lot of people take a quick video clip and leave. We're an ATMO band, which means we're supposed to add to the ambiance of Place Cachee, and make people feel like they're in 1920s wizarding Paris, and give guests an experience that they can't get anywhere else. But if you never once look up from your phone...what exactly did you pay for when you bought your ticket? You could have stayed home and watched videos of the park online, and saved some money. I guess that makes me old but, it was my thoughts today.

We had more questionable guest behavior in the form of a drunk guy who came running up to me during our performance and started yelling at me in Spanish. He didn't seem aggressive, just seemed to be acting stupid, but he was much bigger than me and got right up in my personal space. Our handlers were apparently too timid to do anything about it. The other two musicians immediately stomped over to "suggest" he step back...politely, and still in character. But they shouldn't have to do that in the middle of a show. We shouldn't have to stop a show to "handle" guests, that is what a HANDLER is for.

This stuff is only going to happen more and more, so we'd better get used to it and our handlers had better step up. I would hope that at some point we'll have training on how to handle negative interactions...but I won't hold my breath for it. I will simply have to watch out for myself. If I see that help is not forthcoming, I will act to protect myself...i.e., I will simply leave the set until the problem is removed. In the event that I can't leave because someone is trapping me or grabbing/touching me...let's just say I'm grateful to be holding a trombone. Which can be a VERY effective weapon. Which I hope no one will ever have to experience.

But you know. FAFO.


Aaaanyway, that was the excitement. Otherwise it was good sets and good crowds.

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I ate dinner in the break room and then drove to Will's for what was likely my final bass trombone lesson.

Chatted with him and his wife a bit, asked questions about his recent heart surgery which he said went really well, he's just a little sore and is recovering nicely. This is our first lesson in I think 3 weeks, and I was very gratified when Will exclaimed over the noticeable difference in my playing. I don't always practice as much as I should or work on all the areas that I should, but I do practice regularly and have worked very hard to be more comfortable with the bass, and it showed. I could feel it myself in the lesson, remembering how I'd sounded with Will previously. I'm still not as good as Will and probably never will be, but that's ok. I'll get better with time, and will continue to do my very own best :)

Back home the routine of unpacking and cleaning myself up and splatting on the floor.
Jameson had his last gig at Epcot tonight, and is tired but overall positive about his first performances post-surgery.
We will see how his arm feels over the next 48 hours.

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Friday I was up too early. Coffee and typing this and breakfast, trying to figure out what to make for dinner and settling on a cheeseburger fusilli bake that we both like. Got the ingredients for that. Did not practice, didn't feel like it.

Had an exchange of information with the upcoming tour management, and that made me feel relieved although they still haven't given us much. Now I've got flight and hotel bookings for rehearsals in Schenectady. What I REALLY want is onboarding paperwork and the dang music. But, gotta be patient.

The rest of the day was slow, I just did research related to touring, worked on foodie finds, and read my book to relax a bit.

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Saturday, up early for no reason again. I guess this is my life now.
Slept poorly too because had eaten too many acidic things all day yesterday, and felt mildly heartburn-y and nauseous all night. It happens.

Jameson had a playdate with friends this AM, so after he left I drove out to the nearest Michaels to look at foam inserts for my bass trombone case. The case is heavy-duty, but the padding inside is not the greatest so I need materials to cushion the horn further for transport.

$80 later I had some chunks of foam, some dark grey felt (they were out of black), two sheets of black craft foam, two foam cones, a small cushioned black case that was maybe meant for glasses(?)...and these adorable post-its, because they're fun and life is short!


Back home I chopped up the foam and put a chunk in the bottom of the trombone case to cushion the trigger mechanism, which currently is touching the hard side of the case and could be easily damaged as-is. I think the foam is perfect to protect it but we'll see. Additional foam in the more narrow section that houses the tuning slides. There was a lot of leeway for motion there that is greatly reduced with the foam.


The black craft foam, I cut a piece to put in the bottom of my mute bag to help muffle sound. I like to start packing up mutes before the show is over where possible, and this will help me not to make noise while doing so.

The foam cones are to be inserted in the trombone bells, to protect them from being crushed during transport. They extend slightly beyond the edge of the bell, which allows them to take impacts instead of the bell itself. The bell may still receive damage sometimes but odds are greatly reduced by using a cone (this is why my bass trombone's bell got crushed during shipping to me, because the idiot who packaged it did NOT follow my directions and did NOT use a cone.)


The small black case is for one of my small tuning slides on the bass, which must be removed for the instrument to fit in the case. It will probably also hold my mouthpiece once I get an appropriate sheath to protect them from clinking together. For the time being I cut a bit of the dark grey felt to go in there and provide extra cushioning, and threw random things in there like a mouthpiece brush and tape and spare trigger gummies.


More of the grey felt will be put in front of the bell-and-cone, just to snug it in there more tightly. I was very satisfied with how my little plan worked out here.

I practiced a bit but wasn't feeling great, so mostly tried to rest.
Later on we drove down to Colonial Ave to see a Queen tribute concert.
We've seen this band before, our friend Allen (whose nickname is Shrek) was a sound guy on the circus and now exclusively tours with this tribute band. It's good money for him and he absolutely loves it, plus they come through Florida once or twice a year and we get to see him! We had dinner together and got caught up, then Allen got us our tickets and took us backstage to meet some band members. Everyone was pleasant as always, and since Jameson is both a keyboardist and Queen fan he always has lots of nerd-stuff to chat about with the lead singer and the keyboardist :)

The concert was lots of fun. The theatre is old so it was warm and stinky, but that also made it feel, I guess "classic!" Like, this was a common live venue setting back in the 80s and 90s. Few people were looking at their phones or even recording...most were really interacting, cheering, and having fun. I feel like that might be a rarity any more.


After the show we said goodbye to Allen and thanked him for the tickets, and left so he could get started on loading out.

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Sunday, my brain finally allowed me to sleep through the night AND stay asleep until 9am.

This was partly because it was raining! It was darker than usual so I think my brain didn't know what time it was.
We have been in a drought here in Florida and BADLY needed this rain.



It also gave an excuse to have a nice slow morning.
I still feel kind of like, on the verge of having a virus, though I feel better than yesterday so that's something. I had an electrolyte drink, and waited a while before practicing bass, and then Disney stuff on tenor. After practice I had lunch with Jameson and then took a coffee grinder I'd sold on Ebay over to UPS so I won't have to worry about it on Monday. Then Jameson and I rested. He gamed and I watched Aladdin for no reason other than I felt like it. Maybe it's just comforting while I'm feeling under the weather.

Before dinner I cleared out the areas under the guest bathroom and kitchen sinks, and after dinner I did the master bathroom. Tomorrow we are having new sinks put into the bathrooms and new faucets in all three. Opened each box to make sure all parts are there and nothing is broken. We've had terrible luck with contractors and getting ripped off and/or paying for services that do not get completed, so please cross your fingers for us that we will just be able to get these installed without drama or issue.

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Monday: Three faucets and two sinks getting installed early in the morning. The rest of the day should be free. I'll probably practice and pack for Disney. If I'm feeling better I'll make something for dinner.

Tuesday: Rehearsal day at Disney.

Wednesday & Thursday: Working at Epic.

Thursday at Epic.

I was up early working on Foodie Finds, then had intended to stop at Sprouts on the way in to work but missed my exit because I was distracted/tired so decided to skip it.

At work after getting makeup and costume on I practiced bass, but only for a bit because I felt tired.
I'm about to have like a week off here anyway, so there'll be lots of practice.

Our sets were mostly just fine.
For one set, our puffskein Plume was "dead"...that is, her battery died unexpectedly. So when we revealed her to the crowd she was perfectly still, eyes closed, "in repose," LOL. We continued on with the show because what else could we do, but during my very first break in the music I casually slid back and forced her eyelids open so people could at least get pictures of her.
Sorry b*tch, but if I gotta work, so do you hahaha

Someone from Wardrobe sent me this picture later (Plume is presumably alive here haha)


It was very hot out, with temps in the high 80s and a heat index above that (31C+). The 70-degree days and cool nights are behind us...from now until November, we will not see temps below 80 again.

Traffic getting home was horrific, it took over an hour.
I scraped my makeup off and chatted with Jameson, showered and had a snack, and chilled.

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Friday. I hadn't realized that I've got FIVE days off in a row!
Now that we're past Easter, my schedule is suddenly very light.

There is still a lot of work to do, though.
With the tour in mid-June, I have to practice daily and gather equipment (mostly for the bass as I've never toured with one before.)
This is also a time to clean, cook, and spend time with Jameson.
Selling things that I don't need and then taking what I don't sell to a donation spot.
I've got an all-female Chicago tribute band gig to practice for, and transcription is supposed to start up again in May (fingers crossed.)

After breakfast I was twitchy waiting for Jameson to wake up so I could start on chores, but with five free days ahead of me I could stand to be more patient. He was up soon enough and went for a walk, and while he was gone I cleaned our bathrooms, vacuumed, and mopped the tile floors. Then practicing bass and large tenor. Switching between the two isn't "hard" per se, but one instrument gets cold while you're playing the other and that makes it tough to sound good sometimes. Simply remembering to switch is probably the hardest part...and then on top of that I'll have to learn when to use which mutes.

Since I'm an old lady I felt tired and low-blood-sugar after that, so chilled until lunch and then even after lunch, just figured out what to cook for the week, read my book, watched anime and some luggage reviews, and emptied the dishwasher. Updated my resume with the Epic stuff.

For dinner we went out for once, to Lazy Dog. Jameson needed a break, he had a frustrating week at work culminating in the probable loss of 5 months' worth of his efforts due to the carelessness of his bosses. I don't want to put so much weight on his Disney interview on Monday but...he wants and needs it real bad.

We had fried deviled eggs for the appetizer, and he got a flight of beers while I tried a lemoncello basil cocktail that was ok-not-great (which is why I usually default to wine at chain restaurants.) For entree I got the bibimbap, which I've had here before and is rather inauthentic but flavorful and one of the healthier options on the menu. My favorite part is the carrots, which are spicy as heck.


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Saturday, after coffee I packed up a mixer that sold on Reverb and took it to UPS.
Kind of goofed off until Jameson was up and about...I can't exactly practice or do chores while he's sleeping.

We went to brunch at First Watch! Just because!
Jameson had a bloody Mary, I had a cinnamon toast cereal milk with rum and oat milk. Both were great.
And we both had French toast, he had a tres leches one with strawberries and I went for the seasonal lavender cream + berries.



Isn't that a pretty sight!
Most people would NOT like the lavender cream. By itself it was "soapy" for sure.
But spread evenly on the toast with the blueberry compote, I thought it was delicious.
I don't usually splurge like this. A great treat with my sweetheart :)

(Also when I DO splurge like this, I look up the calories ahead of time, add them to MyFitnessPal, and focus on staying within my normal daily caloric range based around the splurge. In this case, the whole plate of French toast is about 720 calories, the drink was 230, for a total of 950 calories, mostly from carbs and sugar. That left me with about 650 calories for the rest of the day, most of which ideally should be from proteins and veggies to offset the carby and sugary breakfast.)

After our lovely indulgent meal Jameson went to get a haircut and I stayed home to practice.
I played both tenor and bass, practicing switching between them, and also practiced mute changes for the first time. Most of them are tastefully written, i.e. I won't have to hold three damn mutes in my lap like I did on Elf.

After that I had to lie down a bit because playing trombone on an overfull stomach had been a Bad Idea.
But after some water I felt better, and went for a walk to earn myself 100 calories back. Sweet.
The rest of the day was chill and not worth noting.

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Sunday, I am still getting up too early but oh well. After breakfast I went out for ingredients for "white lasagna."
Back home, Jameson went on a walk and I practiced, then while he was having a dip in the pool I measured out and chopped up the veggies for the lasagna.

After lunch we didn't do much...this is Jameson's last day off for a while so he spent most of it trying (and failing) to stay calm about his interview tomorrow. I bought a few stupid things on Amazon, planned what to eat at Epcot on Tuesday when I go to see Jameson play, and turned away some people who came crawling out of the woodwork to frisk me for tickets / entry into Epic Universe.

In case anyone reading this is thinking of trying that:
     - I'm not a Universal employee. I do not receive any of the benefits of a Universal employee, including entrance to the parks.
     - Even if I WERE a Universal employee, employee previews are over. They ended around April 15th. Even employees no longer have free access to the park.
     - The best way to get into Epic Universe before opening day is to stay at one of the hotels: Terra Luna, Stella Nova, or Helios. The hotels are currently offering a limited number of single-day tickets to guests.
     - The second-best way to get into Epic Universe before opening day is to beg an Annual Passholder to get you in, or to purchase an Annual Pass yourself.

Additionally, if we haven't talked in years and you suddenly show up in my PMs pretending to be all chummy, then immediately hit me up for free stuff, you're clearly not my friend and you're definitely not getting shit :)

Anyway. It was a slow day that should have been relaxing but both of us have things on the horizon to be tense about, Jameson especially, so it just felt like a day of annoying waiting. For dinner I made a half-recipe of the "white lasagna," which is supposed to be a copycat recipe for Stouffer's Vegetable Lasagna.

(photo courtesy Sweetly Splendid which is where I got the recipe. Mine looked similar.)

Jameson described it as "A chicken pot pie lasagna," and I think he is right! I'd never thought of it that way but the process to make it is almost exactly the same, just with noodles instead of a crust. He liked it a lot so I'd make it again, but here are three notes for future me:
1) Make double the sauce.
2) Saute the veggies a little instead of throwing them in completely raw.
3) Check your dang noodles for doneness lol

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Monday: Jameson has his Disney interview, then he's got sound check for his gig with Hooligans at Epcot. I'll have a boring day of practicing and scrubbing the shower with bleach, which I only do when I know Jameson is gone so he won't have to suffer the fumes. Might take myself to a luggage outlet store as my tour luggage has taken a lot of damage and won't last much longer.

Tuesday: Normal morning, going to see Jameson play at Epcot in the afternoon/evening. This will be his first performance since getting surgery on his arm.

Wednesday and Thursday: Work at Epic.

I was awake too early on Thursday. Not sure why. Generically anxious, I guess.

Breakfast and messing around online until Jameson got up.
His Disney interview was at 10, so I busied myself with quietly dusting and packing meals for tomorrow while we waited. During his interview I eavesdropped a bit...it sounded fairly "normal" but he had headphones on so I couldn't hear much. It about 30 minutes and he said all of the questions were exactly the same as ones he's been asked by Disney Corporate in the past. This makes me a bit annoyed and sad, but then again, what are they supposed to ask? What new information could they be looking for? This is probably Jameson's 7th or 8th interview with Disney, with the same questions asked, again. Will anything come of this one?

He's supposed to hear back in about two weeks. Fingers and toes crossed, but we are both past the point of keeping our hopes up about these. It's great that he's getting these interviews, but they seem to be just toying around, and it's very frustrating. He needs a new job.

I practiced bass trombone, ate lunch, went to the store for secret Easter treats (ssh!) and a few nice things to get me through these busy days. Specifically, Cracklin' Oat Bran. You'll probably laugh but I swear to God, this cereal is essentially miniature oatmeal cookies. They're one of my absolute favorites, especially soaked just slightly in some sort of non-dairy milk to make them soft. Ugh, so gawddamn good!

(wikipedia photo)

Back home I did nothing important, just made tea and downloaded my raw genetic data from 23andMe since they're going out of business.

I SHOULD be planning dinner. I SHOULD be practicing tenor stuff. I SHOULD be learning civil court transcription.
Instead I nearly fell asleep watching TikTok on the floor.

Well...as an adult, that's my prerogative I guess.

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Friday, a day at Epic but it was NIGHT rehearsals, ooooOOOOoooo.

Really, just the same as usual except that I didn’t have to get up at 5am! Which meant I actually had time to DO THINGS before work. After Jameson went to the gym I practiced bass and vacuumed and spent 30 minutes doing “Phillipa Hair.” Left a bit after Jameson got back.

The first three sets were hot, being in the middle of the day, but we had good crowds.

For the evening sets it was beautifully cool and we had GREAT crowds because it's so much easier for people to stand and watch a show without the sun beating down on them! I found out tonight that we're averaging around 90 people per set, and that's during normal daytime sets. I think that's pretty good considering we're just an "atmosphere" band without an actual stage or anywhere to sit.

And for us the performers, it was so nice to not be distracted by sweat soaking our clothes or the sun stabbing us in the eye while we try to play an instrument and smile at guests. Night shows are pretty great!

The other thing that I noticed during these lovely nighttime sets was some people out there with professional camera equipment. I guessed (rightly) that we had some actual freelance photographers with us, and made sure to stand still more often to aid in some decent shots. Not for ego, but because any media taken of me can be a part of my resume. My portfolio is entirely made up of live performance media.

Later I interrogated some of the ladies in our Ministry of Magic dressing room to discover local photographers who do theme park work. They graciously gave me some names, and lo and behold the very next day one of those accounts shared photos of us!

These are from @motley_joey on IG. Excellent, high-quality shots of our performance.



I am especially grateful for these two headshots.


Additionally, some photos from one of our show techs, Tiffany:



And finally, one of the wizarding students (her name is Ashley and she's an actress) went to the trouble of getting into plainclothes and taking photo and video of our set!

Here is the video snippet. Love it! I can't wait to someday have a whole set to share with you!



Here are some of her photos. I really like a lot of these and wish they were higher resolution. Thank you so much Ashley :)




Seeing Place Cachee at night was lovely, though we really just had dusk, not true night.
I do hope that we end up doing some night sets once the park opens, it's a very nice vibe.

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Saturday was when I dredged up all of these photos. Making social media posts, updating my LinkedIn and YouTube playlists/portfolios, and responding to people commenting on all the media took up pretty much the whole morning.

I had been supposed to meet up with Ilian of Morningstar Mutes for lunch and to check out some mutes, but for one thing he didn't have any of his new models ready, and for another I decided to back out because of my unexpected Disney day tomorrow. Performing outdoors is a lot of steps and a lot of energy, and I am not that young anymore, so this was mainly a self-care choice to have a buffer day.

Groceries, packing lunch and dinner for Disney tomorrow, practicing bass, and relaxing for a bit while Jameson was out day drinking with friends. He messaged me while he was on the way home so I could start cooking dinner. I'd had the good fortune to find a place just a few miles from us that sells Amoroso hoagie rolls direct from Philadelphia!! How unlikely! So I made us Philly cheesesteaks. Tried to keep them as authentic as possible but added mushrooms (that's not inauthentic, just less common) and used American cheese slices instead of cheese whiz. They turned out quite excellent and I'll keep that recipe on file, and gotta remember those hoagie rolls the next time I do po'boys too.

That was it. Pretty chill day and I was grateful for it.

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Sunday, up earlier than I wanted to be for breakfast and the commute to Disney.
I like to get there a bit early to try for better parking, and to have time to get changed before the guys arrive too.

Had a pretty basic day, although I got to learn firsthand why my boss was so reluctant to have me learn multiple trombone parts this year. Harry, another sub trombonist who has learned both the first and second trombone parts, accidentally started doing the first part's choreography halfway through our Encanto medley. I'M the sub for first trombone, so this left me in a really awkward position in the middle of a live performance! I basically had to guess where the second trombone would probably move or stand, and just do that for the rest of the set. We got through it but boy was that awkward. He apologized and I wasn’t mad, I might’ve done the same thing (ok I CERTAINLY would have, I’m a putz) but it made me realize that the risks of too many people knowing too many parts. If TWO people ever got confused at the same time, it could wreck a show.

Anyway, otherwise normal and a nice day with the guys.

Also, for the first time today Epic Universe has overlapped into my Disney workplace!
I saw an employee wearing a Nintendo World Bowser backpack in the Utilidors.
And I overheard more than one conversation about rides, attractions, and food that people want to check out.

There is a misconception that working for Disney AND Universal is a Coke-and-Pepsi situation.
I have even alluded to that, as a joke, in this blog.

It is not like that at all.
Many, MANY people work for (and love!) both parks.


If either park were to enforce a non-compete on it's employees, it would instantly lose AT LEAST half it's work force.
It's kind of interesting to consider how these competing theme parks are linked by their shared work force, imo.

There are some die-hards for either park, of course, and especially at Universal I've met a lot of people who are passionately anti-Disney either because they love Universal sooooo much, or because they had a bad experience working for Disney. Still, few of the employees who work for both parks would actually badmouth "the other park," whichever park that may be for them.

Eh, just something that I was thinking about today.

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Monday: Rehearsal for "Steamboat Lillie" 1920s-themed Disney band. I'm nervous!

Tuesday: Day at Epic.

Wednesday: "Steamboat Lillie" performance.

Thursday at Epic Universe again.

Today we had Warner Bros. "audits," which only meant that a lot of execs were at our first show specifically to review it and give feedback. Some of us were likely quivering in our boots, but ultimately only three of us would perform, and they of course chose Mariah (trombone), Adam (trumpet), and Adrian (clarinet). They're the preferred group, so we call them "the PR trio."

This was our first time seeing Mariah in costume and she ROCKED it. Especially the hat, now that I've worked at a hat shop I can see that the shape of it suits her face shape very well. Mariah is black, and the color of the suit is flattering against her skin tone. I was a bit jealous but costumes can't suit everyone who wears them, and this one is totally meant for her!

The PR Trio did all of the shows, all day. Which makes sense...why make costumes drag ALL of our costumes out, or put us ALL in makeup? But the rest of us sadly ended up doing nearly nothing all day. Yes we were paid, but it felt awkward that three of us were doing all the work and six of us were just sort of sitting around reviewing lines and blocking. I should appreciate the down time; we will get our turn.
(Fun fact: this happens in orchestra/theater pits as well, usually during rehearsals when actors and lighting/techs get bogged down in rehearsing stuff and forget that there are ten people below the stage who have done nothing for four hours. So it isn't uncommon or exclusive to Universal, performance arts just be that way sometimes.)


(The Epic Universe ad that aired during the Super Bowl)

After lunch we had a really exciting event: we got to see the stage show, Le Cirque Arcanus!!

(photo courtesy allears.net)

It was INCREDIBLE. I mean...here is where Disney is going to be strapped to come up with something that can compete. As usual I daren't share details, but the technology and staging and animatronics and puppetry and visuals and live performers, all coming together in this show, are STUNNING. I've never seen anything like it. You could actually believe you were watching wizarding magic being performed right in front of you. Really REALLY grateful that they let us see it today. Once the park is open we probably won't get another chance.

After that there was one more show, and we were pretty much done for the day.
I hadn't gotten to play my frankenbone other than to warm up, but Andrea is willing to use it as well since she also doesn't want her personal trombone to be used with our prop. Therefore I left Frankenbone in the green room tucked in a corner, and it will live there for any of us to use as needed, with our own mouthpieces of course and cleaning it regularly.

Before leaving today Mariah and I made a point to have a little photoshoot at the Epic Universe countdown clock.
We were denied a full-cast photo here last week, but Universal has since backtracked on that decision and started allowing pics here. It looks like it's too late for a full-cast photo now since too many people will be missing, so we figured at least we could get individual shots.

Just me, with the timeclock and wearing my Epic badge.


Mariah and I cheesing together:



Back home I packed meals as usual, practiced bass trombone, did a load of laundry, then got a bug up my butt to do more since Jameson was out watching our friend Lea perform in a show. After laundry I washed and changed our bedsheets, memorized some Disney music, and scrubbed the shower with a horrifically smelly bleach-based cleaner that Reddit says is the absolute best but warned me to ventilate to the extreme. Even with the vent fan on in the bathroom my eyes and throat were burning, so I had to open the door out to the pool deck and hold my breath while scrubbing away. Florida is very humid and mold and mildew reappear so quickly no matter how hard I scrub. When I was finished it really did look better, but I can only handle suffocating like that maybe 2-3 times a year. So it had better keep the mold away for a long time.

When Jameson got home I told him of my doings and we went right to bed.

Almost forgot, Andrea, the third female trombonist at Epic, got me an Easter gig! Usually I do the cathedral downtown in Orlando but they haven't asked yet. I'm grateful that she asked me :)

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Friday and another day at Epic. This time I was the one in costume and performing sets, which is good because I want the practice and also PR trio needs a break after they did all of the shows yesterday!

Our first set was canceled partly because @bioreconstruct was back, circling in his chartered helicopter. Now that previews are happening the park and everyone in it are behaving as though it's open for business, so there are people in costume and interactives and performances happening all over. There are still a lot of things that Universal wants to keep secret until the big reveal, and we are one of those things. So we ducked under an archway and waited, and waited. Additionally, there was a malfunction with our entrance door that probably ultimately led to the cancellation.

The rest of our sets went very well. We are getting used to working with our prop, interacting, and even the new changes that we've just learned in the past few days. I am getting used to how the costume feels, and learning how long it takes to get in and out of costume/makeup each day. And my "frankenbone," although it's not as fun to play as my own horn, will work for this show.

You know, I think we might be ready to do real shows! It feels like just yesterday we were panicking about memorizing our music. Time flies.

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

Before our last set of the day, we were given something really special.
Our 3rd party boss had us get out of costume, then took us into the park.
He took us to our performance spot.
I wasn't sure what was happening, but he looked SO EXCITED.

Cosme Acajor's wand shop is right next to our performance space...

(Image from Harry Potter Fandom Wiki)

With a huge smile, he opened the door to the wand shop and said, "Go on in....pick out your wands!"

That's right: they bought us our very own wands today!!!!

(The nine never-before-released wand options at Cosme Acajor.)

It was overwhelming, suddenly faced with the very personal choice of which wand is "meant" for you! And there were so many to choose from. Cosme's new-release wands are displayed beautifully in the shop, each one on an ornate stand and bearing a description of materials and personal characteristics that may be a good match for the wand. In addition to these, there are character wands "imported" from Ollivander's (Harry's wand, Newt Scamander's, Snape's, Dumbledore's, Death Eater wands, etc) available for purchase. The Ollivander's wands are sold in rectangular boxes, and the Cosme wands in triangles ("prisms.")

After gawking like a tourist I just started popping open boxes to see what the wands looked like, because there were at least 20 different Ollivander's wands to choose from. I was tempted by Skender's wand as it's circus-related, but he was a bad guy known for chaining up animals so decided against. Tempted also by the Cosme black-and-silver Deco wand (the one that I'd thought suited my show character) but it had ultimately been designated to the clarinets' character, so I passed on that too. My character's wand, incidentally, was nowhere to be seen in the shop, but if I want to go get it I've got a gift receipt and could do an exchange.

In the moment and a little overwhelmed by choice, I decided to a) look for a wand that suited me as opposed to my park character, and b) strongly consider the Cosme wands as they are the ones that are actually from the "world" where I'm working. I did in fact end up with a Cosme wand, and although I felt a little dubious about it at the time, the more I look at it the more appropriate it seems.

Can you guess which of the nine Cosme wands I chose?

When we had all checked out we thanked our boss profusely. These wands are not cheap, and they are beautiful, and the fact that he was able to arrange for us to own one even though we are 3rd party is incredibly generous and kind. I am not a Wizarding World fan, but very much appreciate the gesture and having a memento of my time here at Epic Universe, however long that turns out to be.

With that, we performed our final set, got out of costume, and headed home.
On the way out we took a group photo in front of the time clock. Not everyone was present but it was still really nice.
Congrats on making it to Preview Week, everyone!


Some folks went to Top Golf for a fun night out, but I have so much to do that I had to pass.
Instead, Whole Paycheck for salmon dinner ingredients, then home to unpack and tell Jameson about my exciting day.
Practicing trombone, receiving a new transcription job, and making plans for my days off before going to bed.

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Up early but spent a lot of time responding to social media messages, as I've just shared that I'm working at Epic publicly for the first time. Everyone has a zillion questions about the new park, which isn't surprising but is a bit annoying when anyone could google the basic info....well anyway.

After that I had my tax meeting, and found out that I'll be breaking even this year, which is just fine by me.

Then made the dill sauce for salmon tonight, and decided to make some carrot cake muffins using leftover matchstick carrots. I used Half-Baked Harvest's recipe, which is semi-healthy and she has you drop a cube of cream cheese into the center of each muffin which should be lovely. I made them today because Jameson is going to a Savannah Bananas baseball game tomorrow with his friend Hannah, and they have to leave early, and I figure they could take some muffins with them to enjoy on the drive :)


Then lunch, and cleaning up from that took a little while so by the time I sat down to do more transcription it was already 2pm. For dinner I made sous vide salmon with dill sauce, creamy lemon orzo, and roasted asparagus. It turned out quite good.

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Sunday, up early after a crummy sleep to do transcription.

Jameson got up shortly after, and his friend Hannah came to the house so they could leave for the Savannah Bananas game in Miami together. It's 8 hours round-trip driving, so I packed them some muffins to go with their other snacks and they left around 10am.

After they were gone I had quite the productive Alone Day:

     - About 2 hours of transcription
     - 1 hour trombone practice
     - Packing meals, clothes, and equipment for Epic tomorrow
     - Vacuumed, dusted, and mopped, which took quite a long time as I haven't done it in a while and was very thorough about it
     - Shopped for misc things like Tupperware to replace ones that broke recently, new underwear, and random household supplies
     - Shopped for crummy trombones on Goodwill so we'd have more than one at Epic (why I'm the one who has to do this is beyond me, but whatever)

By the time all of that was done it was 5pm, so made myself leftovers and a cup of tea and enjoyed typing this post and a little down time.

Tomorrow will be a very early Epic day, but Dwight is gone again so I think it'll just be our sets and hopefully ending at 4pm instead of 6pm. Also, I'm going to start bass trombone lessons this week! Excited and nervous, but looking forward to getting better at the bass trombone.

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Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: An Epic-Disney sandwich, with two Epic days flanking a Disney day. I'll be bringing my transcription work with me too.

Thursday: The first of FOUR WHOLE DAYS OFF IN A ROW. I'll finish transcription, do more household stuff, take my first bass trombone lessons, and cook us some nice meals.

Was up and out the door for Disney at 9am.

Before that, per the teaser posted by Disney Theatrical last week, here’s who they’ve chosen to be their Belle and Beast on the national tour: Kyra Belle Johnson, and Fergie L. Philippe.



(media courtesy Disney Theatrical)

I don’t know either of them, but damn, beautiful humans and great singing voices.

At the Magic Kingdom it was business as usual starting with the morning parade, followed by a set. Both went just fine. A lot of people in the band are currently out sick or just now getting over misc illnesses, so I tried to put out good vibes and wash my hands frequently. I think it was a normal day, nothing to report except that I'm a bit rusty on this-and-that song, not surprising when one is asked to keep 20 pieces of music in one's head and pull them out only once a month or so. And I got in my 7 miles/17,000 steps.

Back home I packed food and a bag for tomorrow at Epic, and was going to practice bass, but Jameson said he felt dizzy and then spent the next hour or two throwing up :( He thinks it is food poisoning because he was feeling all right all day until dinner, but I'm keeping in mind that he's been feeling under the weather in general lately too and this could be one of the viruses floating around. When he seemed to have nothing left to "divest," I brought him ice water and a Dramamine and a bowl to puke into, and he got into bed. I dug out every anti-nausea thing that I could think of in the house, disinfected all the touch points that I could think of (doorknobs, light switches, remotes, fridge and microwave handles, countertops, etc), then spent two hours silently fighting anxiety as Jameson rested.

I am not a caretaker-type...and also, both my parents died of horrible illnesses.
Additionally, the trumpet player that I worked with on the circus had cancer and the final year before he passed, he stood next to me on the bandstand in terrible pain, and I cannot tell you what that put me through mentally and emotionally as there was nothing I could do but silently witness his suffering.

So when my loved one gets sick, my mind immediately jumps to the Worst Possible Scenario, and I am in terror that something awful is going to happen and I will be useless at the critical moment.

Therefore I was awake well into the night, and slept very fitfully in the guest bedroom, getting up every few hours to check on Jameson.
Oh, forgot to mention that today was Jameson's first day of physical therapy for his hand/arm. He said that it went well, and he's been given some exercises to do at home. He was supposed to have another session tomorrow but per the incident under the cut, he will be staying home and resting instead.

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Friday, I guess it's Valentine's Day. Not a very romantic one for us...poor Jameson.

I was up extra early so that in addition to getting ready for work, I could run to Publix for ginger ale, crackers, bread for toast, rice, low sodium broth, and applesauce with electrolytes added. (I'd have gotten Pedialyte too but Jameson can't have lots of salt so instead opted for the broth.) Before leaving for rehearsal I checked to make sure that he was all right, and left a note that if he needs me he should call right away.

Later on he was awake and well enough to do some work from home, and later still he was hungry and ate much of what I'd gotten for him. He said he wasn't nauseous at all any more, just shaky and exhausted. So it was food poisoning after all. Phew.

Meanwhile, my last day of full-time rehearsal at Epic Universe!!

(image from discoveruniversal.com, artistic rendering of Ministry of Magic at night)

As I've said many times now, this has been an incredible experience.
I have memorized new music, and learned how to act (wouldn't call myself an actress but have done more acting now than at any other point in life haha.) I've met a lot of great musicians and great people. And I have been a part of the opening of a whole new theme park. Not many people can say that!

And now that that's said....I NEED A BREAK!

Our schedule was 9am-6pm every single day for the past five weeks, and for me it was 8am-7pm if you include the hour of commute time at each end. This left me with "Me Time" of 6am-7:30am each morning, and 8pm-10pm each night, with Saturdays off. That's it. Every other waking moment has been Epic Epic Epic Epic.

I need to catch up on chores.
I need to make us healthy meals (it's been over a month since I got to cook)
I need to prepare to go on tour, including learning bass trombone and scheduling bass trombone lessons.
I need to learn another trombone part/20 more songs for Disney.
I need to start transcription work again.
I need repairs on my car and around the house.

And loads and loads more things that I can't even think of right now because I'm exhausted.

I've gotten off track with griping there, sorry.
It was our last day of full-time rehearsals. I saw people in other departments getting weepy, but we were all very decidedly dry-eyed. Our whole troupe very much needs a break from this.

We slammed through rapid-fire show runs until lunch while a helicopter circled overhead. It was @bioreconstruct, a local guy who charters a helicopter to fly over the new park and get footage of the construction. I won't link to his accounts because he's peeking into the park without permission I assume, and with the NDA I can't share his footage. But it's easy to google him and find his videos yourself if you want spoilers.

After lunch we took a field trip....to SUPER NINTENDO WORLD!!!

(artist rendering from WDWmagic)

I was so excited to come here! And it was better than expected!
While the park was still heavily under construction (especially the Donkey Kong portion) there were a lot of fun interactive elements that we got to try out. I can share more about this "world" because technically it already exists in Japan AND Universal Studios Hollywood, and there's loads of existing footage of what's in store.

We split into groups of 3 or 4, and each group was given a "power up band" which helps you to interact with objects in the park.


(borrowed from YouTube)

Even if you don't have the band there's still a lot to do...like punching the iconic question blocks, bricks, and POW blocks. I ran around punching as many blocks as I could until my hand was sore! They've constructed the bottom of the bricks to be very satisfying to punch, and the sound effects, as you can see from the video, are true to the game.

Additionally there were mini-games hidden throughout the park. A lot of these involved insanely hi-def interactive screens and effects, or required you to put in a good physical effort to get results. It felt like you were really IN a Mario game!

This video does a good job of summing up the mini games available. I played 2-3 of these with my group and it was awesome.



There weren't any character meet-and-greets yet, or live entertainment offerings (I mean the games ARE the entertainment) so once we'd done a round of games we returned to our own world breathless and happy. To be honest, this world was a bit overstimulating with all the music and noise and activity, but the fun factor made up for it!

We then slammed through a few more show run throughs, and before we were released for the day our show director gave a little speech thanking all of us for our hard work and reflecting on our rehearsal time together. He'll be back in a few weeks for brush-up rehearsals (because our important prop piece is not ready yet, I suspect, and he needs to train us on it) so this wasn't a goodbye, just a "Good job and see you again soon."

And finally, we were given permission to take a photo against the blankest of blank white walls that we could find!
So here we all are, everyone who was involved in this five-week rehearsal marathon for our show (name of our group is top secret and TBA)
Congrats on making it through, and here's to opening Epic Universe Ministry of Magic together!


Back home, Jameson was recovering well and had done quite a bit of working from home! He has also booked a trip to Hawaii for a friend's wedding in September, which I'm VERY pleased about because he never takes vacations and he is so incredibly overdue for one. I told him excitedly about our visit to Super Nintendo World and as a gamer he was very jealous (sorry dear!) then I unpacked, practiced bass trombone, and we had a nice quiet night.

(Taking this opportunity to add that there's a Friends Only post going up alongside this one, with more "sneak peak"-ish things...)

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Saturday my blessed day off, but full of catch-up work.

I woke up too early but used the time to type this up and enjoy Me Time with coffee and breakfast.
Then laundry, and starting my newly-received transcription job, and when Jameson got up and went out for errands I vacuumed and cleaned our bathrooms and practiced bass trombone and packed for Disney tomorrow. More transcription after lunch, then we drove downtown to see Alton Brown at the Dr. Phillips Center!


Jameson and I both enjoy competition cooking shows, so when he asked if I wanted to see Alton this weekend I was thrilled!

Finding dinner downtown on a weekend has become more and more nutty, even with more restaurants popping up. We tried a new Mexican place that looked nice, but after we were seated we were completely ignored for a solid 20 minutes. No water, no "sorry about the wait," no nothing. So....we left :p and probably won't be back. Instead we went to The Bao Spot, which is a weird little hole in the wall that is for some reason space-themed and where the food is served completely at random. We'd been here once before when going to see Peter Pan, and knew that even if service was lacking at least the food is awesome.

Jameson got his UFO burger 20 minutes before I got my bao, and was therefore completely finished with his food by the time I started eating. Also, since we'd sat around at the Mexican place for 20 and my food took 20 to arrive at the bao place, I then had to rush to eat so we could get over to the Phillips on time. Whatever, I had the soft shell crab bao again and it was fantastic, and tried a "cosmic fish" bao that was good but not as good as the crab.

Our seats were up in the balcony, but I'd never been up there at this venue and am always excited to see new stuffs. Plus, we could see the stage clearly and got to see the spikes on the stage for misc props.


The show was basically Alton talking about parts of his life and career, and tying those parts in to food science such as thermodynamics and steam as vector for power. He demonstrated his favorite type of cooktop (carbon steel) by making an omelette right there on stage, and the grand finale was bringing four volunteers up on stage to do a steamed hot dog assembly line complete with condiments! That was hilarious and fun to watch, and fit the whole Alton Brown brand of food-humor. We learned a lot and really enjoyed the show, and I hope he's been having fun traveling the US and putting his knowledge and incredible life story on display!

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Sunday I woke a bit confused...Epic or Disney? Ah, it's Sunday, so it's a Disney day.

The normal morning routine, and I packed up my transcription stuff and brought it to the Magic Kingdom with me. I was surprised to see this sign on the door of the warm-up room:


"Chickens" refers to the fluffy white plumes on the band's hats!


The sign is telling us to take the plumes off our hats today because of the wind.
The plumes can go flying off, and sometimes bring the whole hat with it!

The parade was fine, our first set was fine. Between events I did transcription.
Our second parade was canceled because there was a guest band participating.
And then it was raining, so the second set was canceled as well.
And finally, we walked out to do flag retreat...and it started raining!

So, it was a very easy day. I was grateful...the guys were in a cheery mood because they got a break, and I got time to rest and transcribe.

When I got home Jameson was out with friends, so I did my usual thing of packing lunch/dinner, practicing bass, and I was gonna transcribe a bit more but ended up writing and posting this instead.

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Monday: Another day at the Magic Kingdom. It's not supposed to rain, but IS supposed to be in the mid-60s!

Tuesday: My first Epic Universe rehearsal as ONE trio, instead of all of us there at the same time. I wonder what we'll do?

Wednesday: A day off!! I have so much to catch up on but it's gonna be a lot of transcription.

Around 9pm last night--which is well after I'd posted to DreamWidth and scheduled the usual post to LJ--I received a Universal audition results notice.

Sort of.

To sum it up, Universal is hiring through a third party. It's the same third party company that currently hires for their Mardi Gras band. The way this works is, the third party posts the audition notice, holds the audition, selects whom they'd like to use for the project, and submit that list of names/portfolios to Universal for review. Universal then selects whom THEY'D like to use from that list (if anyone.)

And only after that selection process is finished, are any of us actually offered contracts for the project, through the third party. Hopefully that makes some sense.

So what I got last night was an email essentially saying, "Congrats, we've selected you for review by Universal, and we think you've got really great odds of getting hired!"




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That's great!
I'm not complaining.

I am 40 years old, and have essentially never won an audition in my life unless you count the recorded audition for Candlelight (I sort of do count that actually.) So this is a new and exciting experience for me.

I am also ecstatic just to be in consideration. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I'd be performing as a sub at Disney while also getting the opportunity to work at Universal. PLUS having another potential tour on the horizon. I don't mind admitting, this is more than I deserve and far more than I've ever expected all at once.

Regarding the "fly by the seat of your pants" nature of these auditions, the awkward wording in the second audition posting asking for "female presenting" trombonists, and the impression that these people kinda don't seem to know what they want yet...it's honestly a standard level of chaos for a brand new park and a brand new show. It's reminding me of Busch Gardens and the "Mix It Up!" show, actually. It was a brand new show when I was hired, and they were so desperate for a trombonist that they took me without an audition, paid me to drive all the way from California to Virginia, then I was thrown into preview night with absolutely no preparation whatsoever (thankfully I had taken it upon myself to memorize the music, but nothing could save me from choreography that I'd never been given.) I remember well how stressful it was to be thrown on stage and expected to follow the choreo of people who'd been rehearsing for weeks, in front of the entire creative team. I remember a lot of yelling and harsh words about how bad we looked (not my fault at all but it sure made me cringe) and the subsequent weeks of rushed rehearsals and drastic choreo and costume changes.

With a new show, there are a lot of creative voices trying to talk over one another, and one day one voice gets heard and implemented, and the next it's someone else so they scrap everything you learned yesterday. It's a weird and stressful process, and I feel for the third party company, for having to negotiate for us and for these potential performing jobs.

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Another great bit of news is that there are THREE female trombonists!
Myself, Andrea (who I mentioned in the recent post), and Mariah, a local trombonist just out of high school who's in a lot of local bands...notably, bands that play gaming/anime/nerd music. How freaking awesome!!
I am so excited to work with women trombonists! Theoretically they should take all three of us, two as full or part time and one as a sub. But they may have other options waiting in the wings, we'll see.

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We are scheduled for an all-day orientation on Friday, even though we won't be offered contracts/jobs by then. Interesting.

I'll be going to orientation, and theoretically by the weekend we're supposed to know whether I'll be hired at all...and then, whether I'm being offered full time, part time, or a sub contract.

Here goes nothin'.

It was a normal travel and flying day.

We left the hotel via charter bus at 7:30am, and our flight was at 11am, direct.
It was a lovely thing to step outside and see the sun and feel that temperatures were NOT in the single digits!
No offense, Wisconsin :p

We were at the hotel quickly. I've been to NOLA many times, with the circus and with various tours, and it is not one of my favorite cities. There's a lot to see and do, but it is also so incredibly run down, the infrastructure is crumbling, and it's clear that a lot of the people who live here could use a hand. In other words, the place has never been the same since Hurricane Katrina.

Usually the touring group I'm with is put in a hotel directly on the touristy strip (Bourbon St.), and from there we'd walk to the Saenger to perform. I hated this walk. Feces and urine on the sidewalks, huge holes in the sidewalk or just dirt where sidewalk used to be, drunks fighting or scammers trying to shine your shoes, tourists overindulging and throwing up right in the street. And all of the stores selling alcohol or weed or cheap tchotchkes. It was only between 3-5 blocks depending on where we were staying, but it was totally disgusting and I hate, hate, hated it.

This time we are in a hotel on the OTHER side of the Saenger, closer to the highway. And while the strip is still right there, we don't have to actually walk through it to get to work. It is significantly quieter on this side, the theatre is only two blocks away, and I can tell already that for the first time ever in New Orleans, I'm not gonna have to dodge piles of shit and vomit to get to work!! What a joy!!

Ok enough badmouthing NOLA. I've been here MANY times, there's lots of culture and beauty in this city AWAY from the strip (Examples from 2012, 2014, 2016, 2021, and this January!)

I did the usual thing of dropping luggage and walking to the grocery. I've been here so many times that I knew exactly where it was without directions. You have to walk through a residential to get to it, and I always enjoy the unique houses here and the big ancient swampy trees.


Stocked up as much as I could, knowing that we have extra shows plus I'll be doing transcription. Lugged the groceries back, unpacked, showered, ate dinner, typed this up, then two hours of transcription before crashing in bed.

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Tuesday I was up early for transcription. Checked out the hotel breakfast and they do grits instead of oats, which are delicious but are very low on nutrients, so I'm probably just gonna make my own breakfast here (I'll still steal the bagels and peanut butter though :p)

Most of my day was spent on transcription with a break for lunch and to hit Walgreens for a jug of distilled water for tea.

In the evening, a lovely short and uneventful walk to the Saenger.
It was shocking to realize that I've now performed in this theatre with THREE different tours: Tootsie, My Fair Lady, and Elf.
My phone automatically connected itself to the wifi, that's how often I've worked here!


The theatre looks a lot like a Fox, with plaster statues and columns framing a sparkling starry sky. It's a beautiful place to work.
(CLICK HERE to see my view from the pit)

The pit is a bit in front of the stage, so I can see a slice of what's going on, for once. Yay!
Also, one of the props is going to be coming up from the pit this week: a gingerbread fish used in the opening scene (I've posted a picture of it here before if you want a closer look; now it's got some sparkles added to the frosting bits too!) It's my absolute favorite prop because of A) how ridiculous it looks and B) how often I see it hanging out in random places backstage.

Here are some crew "testing" the gingerbread fish being "caught" from the pit!
(CLICK HERE to see some gingerbread fish action!)

The show went smoothly, personally I had a few weird moments because I was incredibly distracted, one because I could see the stage and kept wanting to watch, and two because there's a pre-audition happening in Orlando right now for the new Epic Universe theme park. They want a clarinet, trumpet, and trombone, and the audition packet is due on the 6th...which is VERY soon. I hadn't planned to take it but the pay is very good, and during the show I was getting badgered by other theme park musicians to at least submit, so I guess that's another thing to add to my to-do list this week. Anyway the show was fine and it was nice to be back at the hotel in minutes.

Oh, and I finally got to see the snow effect near the end! It's so cool!!
(CLICK HERE for flurries)

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Wednesday up early again for transcription and also to try and address this sudden-onset audition.

Plugged away hard at transcription until job 1 of 2 was done, sent it, ate lunch, and recorded the non-performing parts of my audition packet (an "about me" and a sample of my ability to produce a fakey French accent, of all things. Don't ask.)

When that was done I hunted down some old Busch Gardens footage of myself playing "Mix It Up!" on the Italy stage, figured out how to download it from YouTube, and chopped it up into highlights of me dancing around and tromboning in my bright orange chef's outfit. This is because the audition notice said they needed to see us move around while we play, "a la Blast." "Mix It Up" was a Blast-themed show, so although my footage is incredibly old it's still evidence that I have done such a thing and could certainly do it again.

This took a really long time because I'm not good at video editing.
And then I ultimately decided to submit my whole application packet today.
Originally I was going to record more stuff on Friday, but Friday IS the due date and I don't want to risk it.
With the remaining daylight I got the trombone out and played through only half of my memorized Disney stuff.

After that I made the difficult decision to use a laundry service this week. It's very expensive and I hate doing it, but my time is just SO tight this week. Fortunately I got the best laundry person in the world; she picked up my laundry tonight AND returned it tonight!! I gave her the biggest tip that I could because that is incredible (typical turnaround for this service is between 24-36 hours)

Tonight's show went well. There are bubble machines attached to the outside of the Saenger theatre that simulate "snow," and after the show they were going crazy, I stepped outside and really thought it was snowing for a minute! Didn't get footage but maybe another night.

As expected, I haven't had time to do diddly-poo so far here in New Orleans. Womp womp.

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Thursday: Two shows and transcription before and between them.

Friday: One show so lots of transcription, a walk for god's sake, and possibly more Disney practice.

Saturday: Three shows, I will not have time for anything! They are giving us meals between shows though which is awesome.

Sunday: Two shows and packing up for the trip to Greensboro.