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

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

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

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

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


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

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


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


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


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

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

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

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


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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I was able to ride the company charter bus to the airport on Monday. Flights were normal, in Charlotte the tour stopped and stayed because that’s our last city, but many people traveled home for Christmas from there. I had a flight to Orlando which went just fine, and Jameson picked me up from the airport.

I can tell he’s not feeling great mentally, from his body language and such. I asked how his arm is, and he says it doesn’t hurt but he can’t feel his thumb or pinky finger normally, they’re constantly tingling or numb. His surgery will be on New Year’s Eve Day. He is very nervous about it, naturally. This will either help him, or end his career as a pianist. I am terrified for him, but also determined to support him in any way that I can.

Anyway. We talked about that, and how his work is going, and games he’s into and shows he’s watching. I avoided the subject of my new and exciting gig, because I know he’s got feelings to work through about it and I know (from personal experience) how difficult it is to talk about something, that someone else got, that you maybe wanted for yourself. I get that.

Back home, Jameson has decorated the house for Christmas! We have new lights and they are awesome!
You can do all different colors and patterns. CLICK HERE to see!

I cringed a bit at how dusty the house is, and the state of the bathrooms, but I’ll do my best to get things clean before Jameson’s surgery. I won’t be cleaning for Christmas, though. No time.

We ordered taco salads for dinner, then I did a load of laundry, washed our bedsheets, and went out to brave the last-minute shopping crowds for Christmas dinner ingredients and stocking stuffers for Jameson. It took WAY longer than usual…traffic was horrific. But I got everything more or less.

Back home, our neighbors came over to drop off cookies (woot!) so we each had one and then relaxed for the rest of the night. Well, he relaxed and I wrapped presents and assembled stockings. Also, while out driving I’d noticed that my climate control panel in my car was not working.

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Tuesday, Christmas Eve Day, turned out to be unfortunately anything but relaxing.

I was up at 6:30am to take my car to Firestone…and of course they opened an hour later than usual for the holiday. So I dozed in my car with a Wawa coffee until they opened. An additional 30 minutes of sitting in this waiting room, only to be told that the problem is with my car's BRAIN, meaning I'd need to take it to a dealership. Called the two closest to me (30-40 minute drives) and both unsurprisingly had no openings on a holiday.


Initially I thought maybe I could still drive up to Charlotte with my car--everything else seems to be working, right?--but both the mechanic and Jameson seemed to think that was a Bad Idea. Apparently if your car's computer (PCM) goes bad, your car could just...stop? Lose power? The problem is, it's unclear whether it's the brain (PCM) or the AC control module malfunctioning. But Jameson was adamant that I not drive my own car, to the point of offering to pay for the rental car for me. So...f*ck. Now I needed to find a rental car on Christmas Eve Day. Sigh.

But one thing at a time. I got home and made us Christmas breakfast. We had basic shake-n-bake pancakes, with a blueberry compote that my sister made and egg nog whipped cream. I also added Greek yogurt so I could pretend I'm healthy. It was simple but very good.


We then opened Christmas presents and stockings together.
Jameson's parents got me the latest Half-Baked Harvest cookbook, and Jameson got me a Japanese Classics cookbook! I've already dog-eared a bunch of new recipes to try (when I'm home...I might make some things and freeze them for Jameson.) Conveniently, one of Jameson's presents was salicornia "salt." Jameson has Meniere's, which means too much sodium causes him to have vertigo and nausea. Salicornia tastes just like salt but actually contains only half the sodium of regular salt. So theoretically he should be able to eat more of it with less ill effect. And THAT means that I could probably try making the ramen in the cookbook he got me!

Anyway, another lovely present was from my sister Kate. She made all of her own gifts this year. Pistachio butter, peanut butter, brown sugar syrup, homemade granola, garlic salt, a clove-scented candle, and a lovely decoration. Homemade gifts really are the best. I used to do this too, but haven't had time any more.


Jameson's presents to me were very thoughtful, as usual!
Look at these hilarious bread-themed computer cushions! Baguette for wrists, croissant for mouse hand/wrist.


And these adorable alligator socks! There will probably be more pictures of these, for now I want to protect them so will only wear them once tour is over.


His big gift to me this year was an Apple Watch!!! He REALLY shouldn't have done that, argh.
I spent a lot of time this afternoon getting used to it. It's shockingly comfortable...twice today I almost submerged my hand with the watch on! (It's waterproof but still.) Probably the most useful part of it is going to be accurate fitness tracking. With an accurate BPM and other vital signs, I'll be able to see how many calories I really burn instead of having to guess. Convenient!

In the afternoon he drove me to the nearest Avis for a rental car. I felt very stressed about this...that's hundreds more dollars that I didn't plan on spending, all because I stupidly thought I could just grab my car out of storage and shoot up the coast with it. The cost of this added to Jameson's tension and I think made him feel guilty for insisting, but I also do see his point about my car's computer being a risk, especially for a long-distance drive on a holiday when I may not be able to get help if something goes wrong. And money aside, I am abashed and very touched that he is worried for me.

Back home was another shock.
My bass trombone arrived!! FOUR DAYS early!!
How that's even possible, coming from California, I have no idea. But I was amazed and excited.
That was the good news.

The bad news: I opened the case and the bell was CRUSHED.


This 100% happened because the guy who packed it didn't do it properly. And that made me REALLY mad.
I LITERALLY texted him a week ago describing how I wanted him to pack it...and describing exactly what ended up happening to this horn because he didn't do ask I asked.


Like...are you kidding me??? Why???
Probably because it's a busy time of year and he just threw it in the case with some loose bubble wrap and thought it would be fine. But dude, that is so not enough. I didn't want to be a Karen on Christmas, but couldn't help but send him pictures and express how disappointed I was that it had showed up in this condition entirely because he didn't do what I asked. He apologized profusely, I huffed a bit more but accepted that what's done is done, and he found a buddy in Florida who says it can be repaired (it probably can be, crushed bells are shockingly common.) In fact, this person's house is on my route to Charlotte, so he agreed that I could drop the horn off on Christmas day and pick it up on the way back down. Considering that I didn't even expect to get the horn until the new year anyway, this is perfect and the best I could hope for.

And yes of course the guy who sent the horn will pay for the repairs. Butthead!

Otherwise, the slide and rotors are quite good. So as long as the bell can be repaired I'll be satisfied. It was just very stressful and disappointing to receive it damaged like this after I SPECIFICALLY SAID...argh. Well, you know.

The trombone arriving damaged compounded the stress of unexpectedly renting a car, and the stress-guilt that Jameson was feeling for insisting on that cost. If you've kept up, I've bought a bass trombone that's damaged and now needs repairs, my car needs repairs as soon as tour is over, and I have to rent a car unexpectedly for this last leg of tour. FUUUUUUUUUUUU

Also, here is what the first week of 2025 looks like for me:

     - Dec. 30: Drive 10 hours to Orlando, picking up repaired bass trombone on the way
     - Dec. 31: Jameson has hand surgery
     - Jan. 1: I expect to spend the day cleaning and taking care of Jameson post-surgery but also need to practice for an audition
     - Jan. 2: Appointment to have car repaired (will probably take between 4-6 hours + the commute)
     - Jan. 3: Driving 4 hours round trip to Warburton for a bass trombone mouthpiece (this one didn't come with one)
     - Jan. 3: Supposed to start receiving transcription jobs again, including urgent/express jobs
     - Jan. 4: Acting coaching class for my audition for Universal
     - Jan. 5: Audition for Universal
     - Jan. 6 thru 8: Oh my god, could I possibly finally unpack from tour?

I really doubt that all of this will actually happen...like, I'll probably have to delay getting a mouthpiece for the bass, which means delaying practicing it. And I might need to delay transcription too. And I don't know what Jameson's needs will be during this time either. It feels like a lot. It'll probably be ok, but it feels like 2025 has grabbed me by the collar and is THROTTLING me.

Anyway, we relaxed for the afternoon, I packed a bit and made all of the arrangements for the bass repair and car service, then for dinner we tried out the new grill that Jameson's parents got us! Jameson fired it up while I did prep on the veggies and sides. The burgers turned out great! Jameson said he'd have wanted maybe 3 minutes more as they turned out medium-rare, but they were still restaurant-quality. I also tried grilling some zucchini slices that turned out delicious. Can't wait to grill more!


More relaxation after that, eating Christmas cookies and trying to lower our stress levels.

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This post was heckin' longer than intended. I thought it would be a nice quiet Christmas Eve Day, but it turned into quite the stress-fest. Oh well, the world doesn't stop turning just because it's a holiday. Merry Christmas everyone!

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Wednesday: 10 hour drive to Charlotte

Thursday: two shows and an afterparty hosted by the theatre

Friday, Saturday, & Sunday: last six shows of Elf the Musical on tour.

A travel day. I had barely slept because drunks in the hallway again, but felt all right.

We got to the airport in the rain, unloaded, checked in, etc etc.
The first flight was bumpy enough that they couldn't give us refreshments, and I didn't handle it well because it was that horrible dropping sensation-type of turbulence which makes me nauseous very quickly and throws me directly into fight-or-flight mode. Still, it was a short flight and it wasn't THAT bad, mostly I just panicked and worked myself up. The second flight was better, and I was better, too.

At the Greensboro airport I shared my duplicate Delta trading cards with the two kid actors on our tour. They were super excited about them! And just at that moment, two pilots came through the terminal. I egged them: "Go ask for some cards!" They struggled nervously with their nerves for a moment, then got up the courage to ask and were rewarded with some cards. I've created new Delta fans :)


At the hotel, dropped the luggage and off to Whole Paycheck for groceries.
Upon returning to the hotel I pulled the fridge out a bit to adjust the temperature...AND ROACHES SCATTERED EVERYWHERE. OH MY GOD. And it wasn't adult roaches either, it was one adult and LOTS of baby roaches. NOPENOPENOPENOPENOPE.

Evidence (TRIGGER WARNING: BUGS Here is video of a tiny juvenile German cockroach in my room, one of several. If you're only seeing adult cockroaches they probably just came in from outside. But if you're seeing the babies it's BAD, that's an infestation.)

I let the front desk know immediately and packed up my things because they WOULD be moving me to a new room. They did, and I checked it very carefully and did not find any cockroaches or signs of cockroaches. Now hopefully those babies didn't hitch a ride on my stuff to the new room -_-

Unpacking AGAIN was annoying, but whatever. This is a thing that can happen on tour.

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Tuesday, up early to finish the typing part of transcription. I will now be a Bad Person and wait to submit the job so that I can enjoy at least one transcription-free day FFS. I still have to review it for errors but will do that on Wednesday.

I also did laundry and spent a lot of time on hold with UPS trying to have a package forwarded from the hotel in NOLA (it arrived the day we checked out, AFTER we checked out) to the hotel upcoming in Indianapolis. Having packages forwarded remotely is the worst: do not recommend.

The hotel is far from the theatre so we have rental cars to get back and forth.
Greensboro's Tanger Center for the Performing Arts is another familiar one for me; I was just here earlier in the year with My Fair Lady. My phone automatically connected to the wifi :)

Before the show started I found the My Fair Lady wall tag, and my signature on it!



Nearby was the 2023 Grinch wall tag, and I found my friend Kyle's name there and sent him a pic.


I was once again given my own dressing room here. So fancy! I really do feel special for the privilege.
(Also, I tell the guys that they can come use it for a bit of privacy. I rarely use dressing rooms except to eat between shows.)


We can't see much from the pit in this theatre, but I remember it well because the ceiling looks like a UFO getting ready to beam up the audience.


Our show went just fine and was well attended. Afterward the pit was ringed by lots of people who stayed to hear us play the exit music, then applauded us! That was a really nice surprise :)

We had a random party tonight as well; some local donors had set aside money for it for some unknown reason. Whatever, I'll take free snacks and drinks! The finger food was very nice, meatballs and potstickers and zucchini fries, little mini cheesecakes and lemon bars, stuff like that. We each got two drink tickets to spend as well. I used just one of mine on a glass of wine and then spent pretty much the whole night talking with Todd, our trumpet 2 who is into astronomy and other nerdy stuff. I don't know much about it but it's way more interesting than trying to scream over a group of 20 actors about the latest backstage social dramas. We had a really good and engaging convo, and left around midnight. Overall a fun opening night!

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Wednesday, I was up late not surprisingly.

Jameson has been to the hand doctor today and will be going forward with hand surgery :( I am very worried for him, and am also very much hoping that I'll be there to help him recover post-surgery. I think it'll happen as I expect to be around from January on, and with the holidays coming up I'd think they wouldn't schedule it for this month.

My aunt texted to say she's gotten us reservations at a chicken & waffle place near the theatre for Saturday. Awesome! I'm very much looking forward to seeing her, and wish that we could have several days together instead of just several hours.

Anyway, spent a good chunk of the morning typing this post up and texting back and forth with Jameson and my aunt, then did my audio review of transcription which took about two hours. I had forgotten my practice mute so only played a little. It was pouring outside for most of the afternoon, so it turned into a Hot Tea And Movie Day, which was relaxing and rather needed.

The evening show was all right except Notion crashed partway through "Nobody Cares About Santa Claus," so it sounded wimpy.

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Thursday: Practicing Disney stuff, lunch at the China Buffet with some of the band guys, hopefully a thrift store. One evening show.

Friday: Turning in my transcription job and probably getting another. Hoping to go downtown for a bit before the show.

Saturday: Two shows and dinner with my aunt and uncle :)

Sunday: Two shows and peacing out. Next stop is Indianapolis.

Monday: Travel to Orlando for Candlelight

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

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

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

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

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


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


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


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

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

...I think that's about it.

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

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Disney's EPCOT Candlelight Processional Rehearsal

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

(stock image from a previous year)

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Flight to MKE

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

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


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


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

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

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

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Opening Elf in Milwaukee

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


View from my room is nice.


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

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

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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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

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

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

———————

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

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Thursday: Thanksgiving with Jameson and his family :)

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

Firefly petunias went on preorder on Sunday night, so I was up WAY too late ordering them as gifts for my ENTIRE FAMILY haha.
After a super early breakfast, piled onto the charter bus at 7am and off we went.

For this trek we had to cross all of Pennsylvania (which, for my overseas friends, is a state that is 283 miles or 433 km wide!) It generally takes about 7 hours to drive longitudinally across the state.

For us it took close to 10 hours, partly because of traffic and partly because we did two rest stops that were about an hour each.
PA is my home state, and I have driven back and forth on I-80 hundreds of times.
I made sure to be looking at Maps to see my hometown of Bloomsburg as we passed it, because you can't see it from the highway.


Today was also Jameson's birthday!
( Jameson's Birthday )
Meanwhile our lunch stop was at the Pocono outlets in Tannersville. I have lots of fond memories here; being from a small town there was not much shopping locally, so around the holidays my dad would take us for at least one day trip to the outlets. It was a luxury and a special experience, back then. Today I window shopped, and made sure to visit the Gertrude Hawk store as they're a local chocolatier. We used to sell their chocolate bars as fundraisers at school, and dad would always put their Smidgens or Teenie Boppers in our Easter baskets or Christmas stockings :) Today I just got a few truffles from the display case, for the memories.

We finally arrived in Stamford around 5pm, and I bolted out the door to a nearby Japanese grocery!
They had all of the usual candies and snacks you'd expect--Harbio stuff, weird Kit-Kat flavors, rice crackers, dried squid--but the real draw was the prepared food section, which sported a huge variety of traditional Japanese bento, dons, sushi, and sides/appetizers.


They also had sandos, onigiri, a prepackaged baked goods section, and a wall of high-quality matchas and imported teas. And it's right next to the theatre. Knowing that I will not be able to resist going back at least one more time, I limited my basic grocery shopping mostly to breakfast items. We're only here for the weekend anyway...why not enjoy some REAL Japanese food?

Tonight's dinner was this grilled eel bento with seasoned white rice, assorted pickled veggies, sweet glazed pumpkin cubes, a seaweed and/or dried mushroom salad, and slices of tamago. It was absolutely LOVELY.


I also got these "sweet wheat crackers with chestnut," and unfortunately they were pretty gross haha. They had a bizarre fishy aftertaste which I hadn't expected at all. Their texture was also weird and grainy, like rehydrated beans. Solid nope!


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Would have liked to sleep all day on Friday, but having been on a bus for 10 hours yesterday I knew I should get out a bit.

This hotel does not have a microwave or free coffee, so here are my familiar travel companions: a collapsible silicone hot water kettle, an Aeropress, and an Itaki steam cooker! Made myself some lovely oatmeal with yogurt and berries, and coffee :)


A little time to chill and then I took myself for a walk to get local bagels (blueberry, pumpernickel, wheat) and to pick up a pizza from Colony Grill because my friend Bill INSISTED.


Colony Grill, established 1935 by Irish immigrants, has been serving this same style of pizza through both World Wars and up through present day. They're a chain now, but this location in Stamford is The Original. I wasn't inside for long but it was a lovely old bar decorated with headshots of service professionals who have eaten there over the years.


What makes this pizza special is the ultra-thin crust and the way the cheese is thinly spread and caramelized. Also, the "hot oil" is a MUST. I got light cheese (because lactose intolerance) and hot oil on half. The texture was incredible, crispy and lightly charred with chewy, browned cheese and savory sauce. The hot oil was amazing.


Luckily these pizzas are quite small and light, so I ended up eating 3 of 6 pieces and saving the rest for later.
If you're ever in Stamford, take my friend Bill's advice and get you a pizza from Colony!

After that I relaxed, hydrated, and did some online Christmas shopping. I've been very stressed lately with Certain Things going on. My next job isn't until Monday, and I am grateful to be able to recuperate a bit.

We only had sound check and one show in the evening. The pit is cramped, but the one in upcoming Red Bank, NJ is supposedly even worse so this is good practice for that. The theatre, like most theatres, is beautiful.


Everything went just fine, and despite being a small audience the crowd was the most enthusiastic one we've had yet. I looked out and saw a sea of Elf hats and Christmas sweaters, and there were loads of kids in attendance. During intermission so many crowded the edge of the pit that most of the guys went and hid under the stage overhang haha. I was in a decent mood so decided to interact, and asked if anyone had questions:

"What are all those?" (the HEDGE of woodwind instruments)
"What are those bottles?" (the trumpet mutes)
"How can you hear each other?" (I showed them the Aviom and describe a bit of how it works)
"What do YOU play?" (showed trombone and made slidey noises)
"Why's the drummer in a box?" (LOL, explained that the drummer is very loud and if he weren't in a box you wouldn't be able to hear what the actors are saying)

Over the weekend we have four shows, I hope the crowds will stay enthusiastic :)

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

Saturday, breakfast and messing with a personal project, then walking to the Japanese grocery again for takoyaki.


Ate them for lunch and they were lovely despite being cold.

The first show was fine, though we had audio issues throughout.
The second show was also fine, audio issues were better and it seemed to fly by quickly.

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Sunday, I did not WANT to be up early but also wanted to get laundry out of my face and early is the best time to do that, because no one else on tour will be up and the washers are likely to be free.

I packed such minimal clothing this time that I need to do laundry once a week, which is one of the many catch-22s of saving weight in one's luggage. Emailed some family that I haven't been in touch with, packed gradually for bus travel tomorrow, reviewed corrections to my transcription work recently made by a proofreader. On one case I did pretty lousy, on the other I did surprisingly well. Will be interested to see how many corrections are needed on the recent Punjabi case that I did.

There were two shows today, one at 12:30 and one at 6pm.
First show was fine, very noisy as there were lots of kids in the audience.
Second show was fine too, also noisy because someone in the cast had guests who were screaming and cheering for them! I hope that felt nice :) Our understudy for Buddy was also in for the first time and did a great job, especially since it was last minute.

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Monday: Travel to NJ. It's a short bus ride so we are leaving late and also stopping at some shopping plaza to kill time (hotels generally don't have rooms ready until after 3pm.) I'll hit a grocery and start a new transcription project.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday: Transcription, transcription, transcription, and a show on each day.

Sunday, I was up early to have breakfast and finish packing.
A 40-minute ride to the airport, returning the rental car, checking bags, through security. Easy.

This was a Delta flight so I was excited to pester some pilots for trading cards again!
(CLICK HERE to learn about Delta's trading card program, an ongoing employee initiative since 2003)

Lexington airport is relatively small, so I only found one pilot, but he had a card to give and it's a new one for me!
(Remember that you can enlarge the pics by clicking on them)


I thanked him and walked back to the tour group, many of whom asked, "What's that?" so I got to show it off. Most people look at me like I'm insane, but one or two always get SUPER excited and start looking for cards themselves.

The flight was short and uneventful, and in the Detroit airport (which is much larger) I approached three pilots, one of whom didn't have any cards and two others who had giant stacks of them!

The most exciting card was this special edition square-shaped one, minted this year to commemorate the 2024 Paris Olympics and Team USA! How pretty it is!


The other two new ones were an A330 and a 757. I do have cards of these planes, but they're from an earlier year and so these are not duplicates.



I did get two duplicates which I gave to two people on tour who were excited about them :)

We got to the hotel only to find that our rooms weren't ready (it was only 1pm) so I dropped my luggage in a storage room and walked to a Whole Paycheck for groceries. I figured by 3pm our rooms would be available, and I was right. Put groceries away, unpacked, ate dinner, and just as I was finishing my next transcription project showed up in my inbox. I set up my formatting and transcribed up to the Q&A point, then made tea and chilled for the night.

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Monday, breakfast in the room since this hotel doesn't have complementary. The coffee I bought in Kentucky is very good!

Worked on transcription for the entire morning. It's an expected 1:4 ratio for actual audio vs. audio processing time. I worked from 9am-11:30am and fell just short of an hour of actual audio, so my ratio was approx 1:2.5. Considering I got up to pee and stretch and write emails during that time, that's pretty good!

For lunch I decided to get a real taste of Detroit. There was a Buddy's Pizza just a few blocks from our hotel.


The carry-out counter is pretty much the same as one you'd see anywhere, pick your slice and they warm it for you. It was $3.50.


I took it back to the hotel, popped some Lactaid, and enjoyed the cheesy goodness.


After that I took a little time to figure out my macros for coming days and chat with Jameson, then it was back to transcription until 3:30. That left me about halfway through the audio which I'm very pleased about. Went for a short walk to a local grocery just to check it out. It was like one of those tiny NYC convenience/grocery stores, tightly packed like a little maze but with everything you could imagine. You can kinda see by the ceiling lights how far the maze extends.


I got back to the hotel just in time to get a text from our MD that we have ANOTHER day off tomorrow, and did anyone want their instruments now? (per IATSE rules, we won't be allowed in the theater until the show day.) I said yes and hustled over to the stage door to get my trombone and practice mute.

Back at the hotel, got an email from the Orlando Philharmonic with an offer for a Holiday Pops gig! Obviously I can't take it and am pretty sad, but grateful to have been asked, and hopefully they'll consider me for other work after the holidays are over.

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Tuesday. It is so weird to have a second day in a row with no shows or rehearsals. I wondered if it's because of the election, or just coincidental?

Breakfast and straight into more transcription until noon, lunch, then brushing up on my memorized Disney music. It's been a while since I've practiced at a hotel and I felt shy about it, but used a practice mute and I would hope that between 1-2pm most people would be awake anyway...

After that finished my transcription (still need to do the edit/review), had dinner, made tea, felt depressed about the election. I kept CNBC on with the sound off so I could see the disaster unfold without having to hear the tittering.

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Wednesday. Under His Eye.

Breakfast and packing some snacks before heading to the theater.
The Fox in Detroit is an exact copy of the Fox in St. Louis; even the backstage area is the same. It gave such a strange feeling of deja vu, to be in a city I've never visited before yet to feel so familiar in this space.

The lights weren't up yet.


The iconic chandelier after the lights were brought up.


Backstage, it's just like in St. Louis: The stairs and halls are covered in signatures and wall tags from artists all around the world, famous and forgotten, spanning decades.


I found two Elf tags, one from 2017 and one from 2022. Certainly we will get one, too.
(Remember that you can enlarge the pics by clicking on them)


We did a run-through of the show that went pretty well. Tonight is opening night, and I hope the show will go smoothly and people will have a lovely time. Laughs are certainly needed today.

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

Tonight is our opening night party, so you'll see pics of that in the next post :)
I'm looking forward to meeting people, and I know that there are some My Fair Lady and Tootsie cast in this ensemble as well!

Thursday: Finishing and sending transcription project, groceries for the weekend, if there's time I'll sightsee before the show.

Friday: Laundry, possibly another transcription assignment, possibly lunch with a local relative whom I don't know well, a show at night.

Saturday: Three shows! Oof. I won't have time for anything but that most likely.

Sunday: Only one show. Packing, transcription, and saying goodbye to Detroit.

Popped awake Monday morning, ate breakfast, finished packing, and was ready to go by the time Jameson got up.

He drove me to the airport, helped me check in my luggage, and walked me to the gate where we hugged goodbye.
I squeezed him too hard, and felt some kind of way.
This is a short tour but that doesn't make being apart any easier.

This was the fastest I've ever gone through TSA. I think it took three minutes. Unheard of in Orlando!

The flight to Chicago was three hours long and was insignificant. I ate nonperishables and chatted with my seat-mates.
For the second flight our Reed 1 and Trumpet 2 were on the same flight, so we got to know each other a bit.

Neither of them has been on a tour before...Todd (trumpet) has done primarily cruise ships and is interested in doing more "land stuff," and Neil (Reed 1) seems to be doing this for the pay. Neither of them illicitly sourced their music in advance like I did, but have only seen it for the first time when the reorchestrated parts were sent a week ago.

Which is all to say that I'm probably well prepared, having had a part for much longer than that, but we'll see.

We landed in Lexington and had a 40-minute drive to the hotel in Richmond.
I did my thing where I drop my bags, make sure the fridge works, then go get groceries. Nothing special except some locally roasted coffee. Back at the hotel, unpacked and tried to remember what-goes-where when I'm on tour. Prepped as much as I could for tomorrow before falling asleep.

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Tuesday. I always feel like I've been hit by a bus the day after flying. Getting up early was hard.


We had a "Touring 101" orientation from 10-11, for which we were given "breakfast" which was bagels and cut fruit and coffee. I stole bagels because that's bread I don't have to buy. The info was pretty standard, good-to-know stuff, and I got to meet the band and pick up some Elf swag while we were at it! My music of course; my backstage pass; a nice water bottle; and the ubiquitous luggage tag. I've now got luggage tags from three different tours, which is a big flex :p


There are also some props stored where we’re rehearsing (DO NOT SHARE this photo please, super secret!!)


After lunch we got right to work.

This orchestra is interesting because there’s no bass or guitar, and there’s only one keyboard. To fill in all the missing instruments we have a dude with a laptop and mini-keyboard, using a program called Notion.

Notion is some sort of composition and performance software that uses London Symphony Orchestra samples to be lots of instruments. Throughout the rehearsal I played along with a ghost-trombone and ghost-tuba, and any number of other not-really-there instruments. You can definitely still tell it’s synthetic audio, but I guess it helps fill out the sound? Idk.

Rehearsal went way better than I expected. Everyone did a great job considering we only got the music a week ago. During breaks I got to chat with the guys and get to know people better.

Yes, the guys. The entire band, and the entire music production team, are all men. Same old story, different show. Where my ladies at??

During the dinner break I walked around the campus a little bit. It is fall here but still quite warm. The art building is very nice and a good place to rehearse this show.


I sat outside to eat lunch, a thing you can't really do in Florida without ruining your clothing with sweat for the day.
It felt good :)

Rehearsal went until 10pm (a 12-hour day) and I was dead tired by the end of it.

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Wednesday, I was supposed to go visit an American chestnut tree orchard this morning on the campus of EKU. I'd planned it knowing that rehearsal wasn't until 1pm. BUT at 11:30 last night a frantic email was sent out asking us to come in at 10am instead. Something about having to move the drums to the pit without losing rehearsal time? Whatever, I'm disappointed but not surprised. Chestnut visit canceled.

Instead, breakfast and a trip to Meijer for some things that I forgot, like a lint roller and chapstick.

Rehearsal was fine again, though we were all very tired and perhaps a bit frustrated with the acoustics in the rehearsal room. It's a large room with no carpeting, very boomy, lots of reverb making us sound mushy. But at the end of the night we picked up all of our things and moved to the pit. Starting tomorrow we'll have in-ears and Avoim mixes, so we'll be able to hear each other much more clearly. I'll be interested to see how Notion fits into the mix, being a blend of multiple instruments.

As soon as we got to the pit I set my stand and mic how I like them, laid out my mutes, poked my Aviom to make sure it's blank, and configured my conductor cam. When I was satisfied I looked up and realized that it was easy to tell who was a tour newbie: the musicians who hadn't been on tour before were standing awkwardly behind their chairs, staring and looking afraid to touch anything. Ah...I was like that, once. It felt strange to realize that I'm the seasoned veteran now!

I forgot to take pictures in the pit, so instead have this picture of the stage. I snuck in during the lunch break, and they were in the middle of fixing a lighting rig. But you can see the Rockefeller Center ice skating scene is set up. (Again again again, NO SHARING PLEASE.)


Other cool things that happened today:

- During a rehearsal break, Michael (AMD over on Peter Pan, currently giving musical guidance for Elf) came up to me. "I have a present for you from Kevin Vu," he said. "KEVIN!!" I exclaimed. Kevin and I performed together on Tootsie, and he was a big fan of my Foodie Finds! The shirt, it turns out, was from Three Fold Noodles, a restaurant in Little Rock that serves handmade noodles and other delicious Asian goodies. You can CLICK HERE to read about the time I got to eat there (TL;DR it was amazing.) Peter Pan went back through Little Rock, and Kevin thoughtfully bought me this souvenir! I quickly texted to thank him, and will send him a picture when I wear it :)

- After we had loaded into the pit I hustled up to the Green Room to retrieve my dinner. On the way I passed an important-looking guy in a suit, who stopped me by saying, "Hey, are you Megan?" His name is Sam Scalamoni, he's our Director for Elf, and we have a mutual friend! We both know Tom, a pianist whom I worked with on the circus (I don't yet know how Tom and Sam met.) Tom had asked Sam to say hello to me if we crossed paths. How cool, how lucky! And how small the entertainment world is!

We were thankfully done at 7pm today, and I went right home for dinner, a shower, hot tea, and pajamas.

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Thursday: I guess it's Halloween! A 15-hour day with sound checks starting at 8am, then Wandelprobe until 11pm. Kill me now (but it still beats working in a hat shop)

Friday: More rehearsal but I think it'll be just run throughs and a shorter day, thank God.

Saturday: Preview show at 2pm, then load out

Sunday: Travel to Detroit. It's really weird to travel on a Sunday but whatevs, I don't make the rules (plus I think we'll get Monday off?? A girl can dream!)

Thursday, my stress levels were pretty high despite having most of the day free.

( CLICK HERE for Stress Things )

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Other than that, all I did was work on my court reporting modules, pack, and walk to a Goodwill (which turned out to be a waste of time as they didn't have fitting rooms, I hate that!! But at least I got some fresh air.) I was feeling low energy, not only depressed but also a stomach ache (stress!), so took a nap and only got up when it was time to make dinner.

At the theatre, we had our final show in Yakima. It was well-attended, and tonight's Cute Audience Moment was when Pickering declared, "Mr. Higgins will miss her? BLAST Mr. Higgins! I'LL miss her." The whole audience in unison did a soft, "Awww!" that was just adorable :)

And then, like, that was it. We packed up and loaded out. Seven more shows to go.


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Friday, up at 5:30am after barely any sleep, and a smaller-than-usual breakfast to try and keep my guts and tummy calm for the six-hour bus ride ahead.

We took off and I was fine, dozing for part of the way but my eyes popping open as the scenery got more and more awesome. Starting with rolling green hills covered in farmland and moss and budding trees:



Then these huge cliffs and rock formations, and Mount Rainier in the distance (I couldn't get a clear pic from the bus.)
We were riding along the river that is the border for Washington and Oregon, and it was quite beautiful.

Pics:





Video (CLICK HERE to watch)

We stopped for lunch in Portland, which looked like a fun city, too bad we don't get to visit :/
Then as we got closer to Eugene everything was so GREEN. And there were so many SHEEP.


We arrived a bit early, but for the most part rooms were ready. There were just about two hours before sound check so I unpacked and scooted over to Bao Bao House. Inside, no one spoke much English and there was handmade bao being constructed. Both very good signs.


I ordered some char siu bao, some walnut brown sugar biscuits, and some anchovy peanut appetizers. All of the buns/biscuits were made fresh and came out scalding hot, to the point where they steamed the containing bag haha. The anchovy peanut snack had been made prior, I could tell because it was cold.

Peanuts and dried anchovies, stir-fried with sesame oil and chili flakes. This was very good: not too salty, not fishy-tasting or -smelling, nor overly spicy. Just good flavors, crunchy peanuts, and the anchovies were kind of chewy AND crunchy. I liked it a lot!


The walnut brown sugar "biscuits" were like a pan-fried doughnut with chopped walnuts and brown sugar filling. Extremely good, crispy on the outside and soft and sweet on the inside. I had to get a whole order of 5 so brought them with me to the theatre to share with everyone. (I brought the anchovies too but shockingly, no one wanted that :p )


The char siu bao, of course, were fantastic. Ate two for dinner and will eat two for another meal.

The theatre is pretty interesting-looking. The ceiling looks like a woven basket...or a lawn chair, or something.


Once again I can't see the stage, ah well. That's normal!
It was a good opening night audience. We didn't get back to the hotel until nearly midnight, and then I was up too late reading an unfortunate article about sexual misconduct in the NY Phil. It was interesting to see my male colleagues surprised to hear this story and acting like it's breaking news...meanwhile most female musicians have known about this incident since it happened back in 2010 or 2011. How STRANGE that this is such a SURPRISE to the MEN.

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Saturday I woke up extremely tired and stressed. Too much to do and too little time.

I started laundry and ate breakfast, typed up this blog, then got to work on an application that I'm doing in the hopes of protecting myself against failing the AAERT exam. It was intimidating and frustrating, but I stubbornly plugged away and by the time 10am rolled around I'd gotten about 1/3 of it done. It looked extra-dreary outside but I was INSISTENT on seeing at least one tiny slice of Eugene...I am so annoyed that we don't get more time here! So I Ubered downtown.

A mural that I loved by local artist Liza Mana Burns.


My first stop was a small "hippie grocery" called Kiva Grocery. They were VERY small, and didn't have really anything that I needed, but I found chocolates from Seattle and a pouch of canned tuna that was caught and hand-packaged literally by one local family of fisherpeople. The big draw at this tiny grocery was the HUGE bulk section.


From there I walked to Whole Paycheck and had lunch at the hot bar, got a few things for meals, then walked to the theatre...in the absolute pouring rain. I had planned to visit Eugene's Saturday Farmer's Market, and it looked like a huge and fun affair with loads of vendors selling everything from veggies to bongs to murals, just everything, but the rain got harder and harder and it was cold to boot, and I was carrying groceries, and after struggling past a few stalls I gave up and practically ran to the theatre. I was early so at least there was time to get myself from "soaked" to "damp" before the show started.

The show went well. It was Michael (our assistant MD's) last time conducting, and he did a great job.
Between shows I went back to the hotel to shower, put away groceries, eat dinner, and work on the transcription evaluation some more (yeah that's what it is, I should have said that earlier.) I went faster this time; once all of the case info is plugged in things are easier, and making progress made me feel more confident. Typing things out verbatim is something that I enjoy, weirdly.

The evening show was also fine, though we were all very tired and some note mistakes were made.

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Sunday, I woke up a bit late, but then finished the transcription evaluation and after combing it a zillion times for mistakes, sent it in. There are some things that I'm unsure if I did correctly, but I'm hoping that I did well enough to receive consideration. And if not, it just means going ahead with the plan I'd already initiated.

The break between shows was not very long so I packed dinner to bring to the theatre.
The first show was good but had scant attendance. Between shows I tried to work on my court reporting modules but the theatre's wifi had a "nanny," some sort of annoying content-blocker that for some reason designated the site I needed to use as spam. I was able to get in sporadically through rapid-refreshing, but it was too annoying and I had to give up after a while. Tried to work on this blog too but of course it's a RUSSIAN site so it was ALSO blocked. Tried to watch anime but THAT was blocked too. I MISS THE 90's AND THE WILD WEST INTERNET.

Well, soon it was time for our last show in Eugene and our last day of double shows, ever.
It was packed, which was great, and it was a vibrant and responsive audience.

Again, I really wish we'd had more time here, to get to know the city. Perhaps some day I'll get to come back.


(this amazing photo courtesy Aaron, one of our sound techs.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We are flying to Modesto tomorrow, and it's a late flight so I'll get to sleep in a bit and take my time in the morning.
And work on court reporting modules.

In Modesto I don't really have any plans. We are only there for two days, and then tour is over.
If we arrive early enough I'll enjoy a trip to Sprouts for some groceries, but there are no more Foodie Finds for me.
We'll have our closing show party, and pack our bags, and that will be that. Chapter closed.

Let's do it.

I slept poorly, as I always do before a travel day. Anticipation and anxiety.

Woke at 4:25am, managed to slap on some clothing and brush my teeth and grab my suitcase before the cab got here (he is always 10 minutes early, which I love.) We drove to the airport chatting almost the whole way; this guy has been picking me up on these early morning rides for nearly three years now! I was sorry to tell him that this would be my last ride for a while.

The first flight was just fine, the second was slightly delayed but otherwise normal. As the pilot pointed out features within the Cascade mountain range, I couldn't see jack from my aisle seat and felt annoyed with myself for not thinking to get a window for the second flight. BUT, my stomach had been upset all day, so the aisle was probably the better choice. Stupid body! Eight hours on planes today.

I split an Uber with Elen (cello) and Michael (clarinet) and we made good time to the hotel. It's a recently remodeled Best Western and the rooms are ideal for tour life. Moderately spacious; plenty of counter space; a larger-than-usual fridge; a big sink with food service-grade hot water; a microwave. I'll take all of that over ginchy decor or vintage charm any day!


I dropped everything and went to a local co-op right next to the hotel.


It was rather small and I was a bit disappointed not to find many local products. But they have a nice hot bar and serve a $5 dinner on Thursdays, which info I was quick to share with my peers.

From there I walked to the next-nearest local grocery called My Fresh Basket. To get to it you have to cross a bridge over Spokane Falls. I was not prepared for how big, how fast-moving, how awe-inspiring this waterfall would be. You could hear the roar of the rushing water from blocks away. It was amazing. Watching TONS of water rushing so violently down made me feel small indeed.
(CLICK HERE for video 1)
(CLICK HERE for video 2)

We are here for a week and I will DEFINITELY be taking more footage, but this was my first time seeing it and I was awestruck.

My Fresh Basket was lovely, and much more what I had in mind for finding interesting and local products! I tried not to go TOO insane here because there are a lot of co-ops between now and the end of tour, but I did take home these gems:


- DOMA coffee: A sample-sized 1/4 pound since it's sold in bulk, I just wanted to try it. A lovely medium roast.
- Ladder Coffee Original Black: another local coffee, canned. Sometimes I like to get a canned coffee for bus rides.
- Heart Water Pink Himalayan Salt: I thought this would taste like, idk, Pocari Sweat or something, but it was just..."soft" water. Like it tasted very neutral. Pretty good, but I can probably make it at home.
- WET Hydration Orange Mango Ginger Turmeric: A hydration booster (so kinda like Gatorade) but with zero calories because it's sweetened with monkfruit. This tasted pretty good! I would definitely try their other flavors.
- Laurel Tree Rosemary Garlic Hazelnuts: I didn't know that hazelnuts were a big Pacific Northwest thing, but apparently they are because there were bags of them everywhere in all kinds of flavors. This was the most unique flavor that I found, and hazelnuts are my favorite so looking forward to trying these :)
- Fage Greek Yogurt Stracciatella: Not local, but I've never seen these "Creamy Dreamy" dessert flavors from Fage before and had to check it out! Will get to this in the 2nd half of the week I'm sure.
- Tillamook Oregon Marionberry yogurt: Tillamook sells marionberry and huckleberry yogurts and ice cream ONLY in this part of the country; I have never seen it for sale on the east coast. A locally-exclusive flavor that I wanted to try!

And I got my usual groceries too (fruit, veggies, plain yogurt, protein, etc.)
Back at the hotel I felt VERY tired, but managed to stay awake and also not eat dinner until 4:30 Pacific Time.
Unpacked, got settled in, and did go to bed around 8pm because that's 11pm Eastern Time and at that point I'd been up for like 19 hours, and I had to get up at 6am tomorrow for court reporting training.

But damn, what a lovely first afternoon in Spokane! I hope the rest of the week is just as good.

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I was awake early, mainly due to the time zone changes but also because I had Digital Court Reporting training at 10am ET, 7am PT. It went pretty well...mostly it was just walking me through where to upload audio files and how to document things. I still need to learn how to use their dictation software, and how to notarize things, and how to use the audio equipment...I'm nervous about all of this, but also, how hard can it be? The job sounds like something I can do, let's just put it that way, and although I'm bound to make mistakes at first if I am conscientious and take notes I should get better over time. We will see what happens but for now I'm optimistic.

After that I had free hotel breakfast, which wasn't as good as I'd hoped (few protein options) but getting free food at all is very nice. I tried to relax for most of the morning because my guts were still upset over something. I don't feel nauseous or anything, just, uh, "overactive"? So it could be nerves, or that I ate something that didn't sit well.

My caramels arrived around noon! Excellent, because then I could bring them to the theatre for opening night in Spokane!


We are in this convention center theatre, which has 2,609 seats. Pretty cool!
It's a modern and new theatre, and the only bummer so far is having to climb three flights of stairs to reach the Green Room (which is where I stashed the caramels for everyone to have easy access.)


The stairwell does have open ports to the backstage area though, which is SUPER COOL.
I'm not supposed to be sharing these so PLEASE don't reshare them, leave them here. Thank you.
Points of interest: to the right you can see a lot of ropes for the fly rigging system. To the left you can see wigs lined up in front of chairs for the actors (a lot of costume changes happen directly backstage.) And of course setpieces and our road cases and all that. Reminder that all photos can be opened full-size in a new tab for easier viewing.



The pit was a normal pit. Our MD is still out because he's got a nasty cold and didn't want to be coughing/sneezing/blowing his nose throughout the show while also trying to conduct, so took a sick day and our assistant MD Michael led our sound check and later the show. The show was very well attended, and the audience was awesome! Lots of cheers, laughter, and applause. It's going to be a good week if that's what we're starting off with!

Also, the caramels got RAVE reviews :) So many people stopped me in the hall to exclaim over them, and three different people said they were the best caramels they'd ever had. High praise! I'm seriously considering entering them in a State Fair competition or something (but I'd have to be actually AROUND for that to happen haha.)
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Wednesday turned out to be very productive.

( CLICK HERE for Foodie Adventures )

After all of that I still had stuff to do, like research for court reporting and a few applications to touring companies and of course typing up this whole blog post. Jameson had his first physical therapy for his hand; it seemed to go well, and they gave him some sort of medical tape to try and help hold his inflammed vein/tendon in position while he plays(?) He has a gig on Saturday so I guess we'll find out how well that works.

And before I knew it it was time for the show.

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I decided to post this before the evening show, so hopefully it goes well haha.
Today was long and fun, and tomorrow I have an early, busy morning of court reporting things. After that I want to do some more exploring downtown (the falls and some thrift stores, a break from foodie adventures.)

Was up at 5am to apply for as many jobs as possible and eat breakfast before the bus departed at 8am.

One interesting one that I found is called Papa, it's kind of similar to Taskrabbit but the main focus is on companionship for the elderly and/or small tasks like housework, running errands, or transportation. There's no bathing, cooking, restroom assistance, dressing, administering meds, or other stuff that a certified/insured professional would do. I figure Orlando is probably a good area for such things, so will give it a try or at least have it in the back pocket to pick up side jobs (it's 1099 work.)

The bus ride was uneventful, I was very stressed because I'm about to lose my "me time" for the next four days and psychologically that's a blow to me. I hate not having control over when I get to work, especially, because no matter how much I repeat, "I need to be there by X time" the person I am forced to trust to get me there on time cannot manage it 50% of the time and I end up in a desperate rush to be warmed up and ready for the show. That means I am constantly watching traffic, watching the clock, and generally not being in the moment or fully focused when we are spending time together the closer and closer it gets to show time.

Whatever, there's nothing I can do except give myself an ulcer about it, which I am doing a great job of doing. Whether or not I am at work on time, for the next three shows, depends on other people who are not entertainers, and I'm supposed to be perfectly happy about it. Calm like a little Hindu cow.

We arrived in plenty of time to check in and unpack, but I had to be suuuuuuper careful about unpacking, because the room belongs to Raven this week, really. Tonight I'll use the desk, but after that my suitcase goes in the closet and one of the beds gets to act as my bed, desk, and wardrobe.

The one solo outing that I gave myself was to visit a local grocery co-op. It was really nice, and I would have liked to look around more, but we still had a show tonight so I went as quickly as I could and was grateful for the 30 minutes that I got.

Here is my haul:


- Eldorado Vitamin Drink, Dragonfruit: It's like a Gatorade but made locally. I was fooled into buying it because the nutrition label said it was only 50 calories…but I realized later there were three servings in a 16oz bottle. I don’t like liars, or deceptive marketing.
- TSK Blue Corn and Mulberry Granola: They had about five different flavors, all of which sounded amazing, but this was the most unique and also the lowest in fats and sugars. Won't get to eat this until I get to Orlando.
- Bluefly Tulsi-flavored Sparkling Water: They also had Lavender, Rosemary, and Peppermint. Tulsi is a type of basil, I think used in Thai cooking normally. This company is an herb farm in NM and does not ship these beverages, so you can ONLY get them in New Mexico. I tried it last night and it was very good! Kind of...minty and peppery? I don't know but I liked it so much I went back for another can later in the week. Very good stuff :)
- Local Beef Jerky: It's buried in that pile, it's just locally-made peppered beef jerky. Always a good travel food.
- Bean Stalk Vegan Protein Sticks: Made from soybeans, I haven't seen these before so got one of each flavor to try. Fairly high in protein, low in sodium and fat.
- Spelt Blueberry Coconut Scone: VERY good! They had many kinds of scone, sweet and savory, and it was difficult to choose just one. Delicious with lots of great textures. I cut it in half and ate half for breakfast, instead of oatmeal on Friday.

The sound check and show were fine. This backstage is really weird and maze-like.
On top of that...pardon me, there's a MORGUE??


We looked but did not find it. Mystery.

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Back to Friday. I slept super poorly not surprisingly, then got up very early so I could have time for coffee and half a scone before spending the day with Kayle and her family. I cleaned up the hotel room as much as possible and cornered all of my things in the closet and on the bed. Last night I left a work outfit and some snacks at the theatre in case I end up having to run to work over the next three shows, and might pick up some toiletries while we're out today in case I have to shower at the theatre too (this hotel doesn't have mini-bottles.) Isn't visiting with family during work hours FUN!

Kayle picked me up. She has a sort of station wagon thing, and with her tall husband and three small children all using car seats plus their stroller, diaper bags, etc, the only space available for a third adult is wedged between the trunk and the back of the rear seats, sideways, with your knees under your chin. We took turns wedged into that space all day, starting with Kayle's husband (who is WAY too tall to have to sit back there!) and with Kayle taking majority of the time back there, to her motion sickness detriment.

Anyway, we got to Old Town and enjoyed looking around. Here's some ABQ history for you: at some point there was a misspelling on some railway ledger or something(?) and for a while "Albuquerque" was spelled "AlbuRquerque"!


Skylar, Kayle's husband, grew up here and has lots of childhood memories, including the house that his dad built with his own hands (the family went there and took pics before they picked me up.) In Old Town we started off exploring the tourist shops, all with turquoise and silver jewelry and canned goods and clothing and such. Eventually we got to San Felipe de Neri basilica, which is a historic church founded in 1706. You can read more about it HERE if you like.


Behind the church was a sculpture garden so we checked that out too.


When lunch time rolled around we went to Mary & Tito’s Cafe, a NM institution since I think the 70s. The kids were pleased with tacos, buttered tortillas, and refried beans. I had carne adovada, which is pork slow-cooked in NM red chiles, served with both red and green chile sauces and rice and beans. It was quite spicy, I was sweating, but man it was good! Smoky and tender.


After lunch they took me to a small market called The Fruit Basket. You walk in and are hit with the pungent, spicy smell of dried peppers! This place dries their own New Mexico red chiles, and stews their own green chiles as well. They had lots of other tasty treats, like candies and dried nuts and fruits and produce and all kinds of spices.


The stewed green chiles were in Ziplock bags near the counter, still warm. The red ones were in huge bulk bags stacked in piles.


I didn't need anything but bought some lollipops for the kids and enjoyed the sights and smells :)

We drove from there to a park and nature preserve where we could walk right up to the Rio Grande. It was pretty low right now, but there were flood plains with big rows of netting to help catch debris (I didn’t take a pic of those and should have.)


There was a little info/activity center with fun things for the kids to do. We checked that out and signed the guestbook before leaving.
Kayle's family at the Rio Grande:


Kayle got me back to the hotel in exactly enough time to get a rushed shower, before Raven was at the door with her luggage. I got her settled in and we attempted to find dinner (near the theatre at my insistence, I am selfish like that, wanting to be able to get to work on time.) We got to the restaurant at 6pm, ordered a sandwich and salad…and 50 minutes later still did not have our food.

So I got to abandon my sister at the restaurant, run across the street to the theatre, and enjoy a dinner of stale bagels and granola bars before playing the evening show. It wasn’t Raven’s fault, but if I hadn’t put food at the theatre for myself in case of exactly this, I would’ve had to perform the show hungry. Now think if this had happened at a restaurant 20 minutes away! I would have been f*cked for getting to work on time AND for getting to eat. But when I try to explain that this is why I'm so neurotic about sticking around the theatre, or having a time buffer, it’s like I'm describing some wildly foreign concept. If there’s no time/distance buffer and something goes wrong, I could lose my job. But I guess that’s on me!!!

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Saturday, I slept barely at all. We Ubered to Frontier restaurant, another NM institution that’s been around since the 70s and is right on campus, close to the theatre. It was slam-packed in there so we queued up. It was very loud and chaotic, every time you turned around there was someone carrying full plates or drinks and there were many near-collisions happening. There was barely room to turn around, so many people in there. I could feel myself getting really anxious from sheer noise and amount of people.

The food came out quickly but I was so obviously anxious and flustered that everyone asked if I was ok and I wasn’t even sure how to answer. But I felt better when we were sitting together, because it felt less claustrophobic. I guess I hate or struggle with a feeling of being trapped in “herds” of people, and this felt like that. Similar to being packed into a tight line at airport security, or on a hot crowded jet bridge with a bunch of screaming kids.

Anyway, I got a big cinnamon bun and we cut it up to share. It was very good! Sticky gooey :)


Afterward we walked around the campus, the kids ran around and explored sculptures and stairwells and the big duck pond in the center of campus.

Eventually Kayle wanted to return to Old Town but I opted out, planning to take Raven to the food co-op because I thought she’d like it. But she wasn't feeling well and Ubered back to the hotel to lie down. After making sure she got back safely I went to the co-op myself, had a small snack, and walked to the theatre for the first show of the day.

Kayle and Elliotte came to that show (her husband stayed with the younger kids.) There was a 20-minute hold for technical issues, and since Raven texted to say she was feeling better I asked her to order us some dinner for pickup from a restaurant of her choice, to eat at the theatre. I’m sure that’s inconsiderate of me but my dinner break was now only about 1.5 hours instead of 2, and after yesterday’s experience I didn’t want to risk a sit-down dinner with “only” an hour and a half to eat and get to work.

The show went well other than the hold. Elliotte managed to stay for the whole show, and they came down to the pit afterward to say hello.


We said our goodbyes, and from there I met Raven and we ate tamales and some local chocolates at a bench on campus. This was of course a very quick dinner, so I felt guilty that I’d insisted on takeout instead of a sit-down, but the food was good and we got to enjoy fresh air and conversation anyway.

Very soon it was time for the next show, which Raven attended, and there was no hold thankfully. She had fun, and I was glad. We rode back to the hotel in one of our company rental cars with Joel (trumpet) and Victoria (flute) so Raven got to meet and chat with them.

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Sunday, Raven was up at 5:30 for her flight so of course I was up too. When her Uber was almost here we hugged and parted ways. I grabbed a coffee in the lobby and started packing back I the room, but realized Raven had left a coat behind. So now I must ship her coat to her, making sure to make room for it in my luggage since today is a Sunday. I’m sure I can throw out some of my own things to make sure my luggage is not overweight, or carry her coat on the plane.

I decided to do laundry, and it turns out the laundry is at a sister hotel behind our hotel, so I got to take a nice long early morning walk to get there. Typed most of this post up while waiting for my clothes.

After that Kayle had wanted to “hang out” at the hotel…not sure what that meant and was prepared to shut down any attempt at “hanging out” with three small children in my room with my half-packed suitcase lying tantalizingly in the middle of the floor. But it didn’t matter because 8:45 rolled around and she wasn’t here, and my friend Lauren was en route to pick me up. So, we called it off and I gave Kayle a texted goodbye.

Lauren has been my longest friend; we’ve known each other for almost 30 years. We don’t always see eye to eye but so what, who’s compatible 100% of the time?


That’s her dog Coco, eyeing our eggs Benedict (her husband made them for us.) We ate the delicious runny eggs, crispy ham, chewy English muffins, and homemade hollandaise and talked and talked about parts of each others’ lives that we’ve missed. Our mothers both died when we were young, and that has always been a strong common thread tying our relationship. We talked about how strange it is to be turning 40, to be getting close to the age that our mothers were when they passed. I think that Lauren looks a little rough, so I asked about her health but she didn’t seem to want to talk about it right now. I hope that in the coming weeks we will be able to get a little more one on one time. A few hours at breakfast isn’t really enough to hash things out on the deeply personal level that our long friendship deserves.


My voice was horse by the time we parted ways, we talked so much. She invited me to breakfast tomorrow morning, but I had to decline mostly because I am just so tired, and even though I care deeply for my friend I have a low social battery and it’s at the limit this week. We promised again to FaceTime in the near future. And she dropped me off at the theater on the campus of the University of New Mexico.

Here's a photo of us as innocent bebes in the 90s, and the selfie we took today. Not much has changed, tbh!



Our first My Fair Lady show went all right, although something is up with our conductor. I think the altitude finally got him. Not surprisingly he called out for the second show, so our assistant conductor took over for that one. I hope he is OK.

Between shows I stayed at the theater because there wasn’t really time to go back to the hotel. Drank a cup of coffee to try and stay awake, and ate the dinner I packed for myself, chatted with people. Pretty soon we'll all be going our separate ways. Hard to think about.

The evening show was just fine. We packed up quickly, and back at the hotel I packed and went to bed just as soon as I could, feeling like my brain was melting and my battery was dead. I love my family, but this was definitely not the best city for visits for many reasons including a very tight show schedule, a lot of physically demanding changes (elevation, dryness), and multiple friends and family groups visiting at once, making it difficult to make sure everyone got as much time as I could give while still doing my job to the best of my ability. I talked about how I felt with each family group, and tried to explain why I was having such anxiety over their visits this particular time. I'm not sure if I got across, but I think so, somewhat.

I just hope next time there will be a little more consideration for my work schedule, and taking into account that between shows I have to do things like get a shower, eat, warming up my instrument for the next show, etc. Additionally, maybe a little empathy for what being "at work" means for an entertainer. I am not hourly and my "free time" is NOT time off. I am literally in these cities TO WORK. I have been contracted to be in this place as part of ACTIVELY WORKING. That means that if I am called to do anything at all in the middle of the day--a last-minute rehearsal, or a covid test, or a PR event, etc--I am AT WORK and HAVE to go do it. Everything else--sightseeing, family visits, personal plans--I can do those if and when there is "free time", but I am still AT WORK and it still has to come secondary to that.

Anyway. Goodbye, Albuquerque. Hello, layoff.

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Tomorrow I'm flying to Orlando. There were no early flights, so I won't arrive until 8pm or so. It'll be good to see Jameson, cook him some meals and clean up and give him what support I can as he works through the emotional aftermath of that Disney interview.

After this layoff we'll have our last four cities: Spokane, Eugene, Yakima, and Modesto.
I'm excited because I've never been to any of these, but also sad because it signals the end of tour life once again, and a return to feeling worthless at some low-paying job. But I will do my best no matter where I am.

In closing, a photo of Kayle and I in Old Town.