taz_39 | Entries tagged with vhr

Thursday was slow as predicted.

I was in a mood so didn't do a lot, just practiced and prepped my clothing and lunch for tomorrow.
Watched two episodes of Sandman with Jameson because they gave us a cliffhanger that we couldn't let slide.
Enjoyed researching recipes for my Itaki, and making an ingredients list, and deciding what to have for dinners.

Whole Paycheck and Sprouts are about halfway home from work, so if I can get ingredients tomorrow after work it'll save me a trip.

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Friday was my last day at court reporting.
I got up early as usual and was there in time to set up my desk and paperwork before the judge arrived.

So I knew, before we started, that none of these claimants were going to show up, and I would essentially not be paid for the day.
(You can tell when a claimant is unlikely to show when they don't have a lawyer.)

The judge was awesome, she walked in and confirmed that the only case she actually expected to show up was the first one, a mom representing her kid. The mom did show, 30 minutes late but she was there. So at least I got paid for one case, and at least she had her case heard.

The rest of the day was basically free time for me.
The judge went back to her office and asked me to message her if anyone showed up.

I got to take two walks around the building, during which time I found a big green June beetle; a hawk couple having a lunch date together; and a patch of fungus that was glowing in a beam of sunlight.

So it was a nice day, if nothing else.
At the end of it I sent my paperwork out for the last time, and turned in my ID badge.

That's it. Job over.

On the way home I stopped at Whole Paycheck for beef bulgogi ingredients, then to Target for a few specific things and Boursin Bites for Jameson. He wants to try them in the air fryer.

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Saturday after breakfast I mixed up my bulgogi marinade, chopped up the beautiful (expensive) ribeyes I'd gotten, and got that into the fridge to get all flavorful and juicy throughout the day.

I made sure to practice fairly early on so I wouldn't be making a racket during the Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert.
It was streamed live from Wembley around 11:30am, and Jameson wanted to watch.
He has deep emotional connection to certain bands and certain music, and the Foo Fighters/Taylor Hawkins are one of those.
I stayed out of the way so he could have room to be emotional, but also watched as I was putzing around.

I did laundry, folded it, and put the clothes in the spare room for packing.
I gathered other things like nonperishables and tea and packing supplies, and laid out all of my packing cubes.

Around that time the doorbell rang; it was my Itaki!
Of course I wanted to check it out right away!

Look how CUTE. For scale, here is our teapot.

It is very lightweight, maybe two pounds max, so theoretically I should be able to find a place for it in my luggage.
It comes with two metal steaming bowls, a plastic snap-on lid for the larger bowl, a tiny 40ml measuring cup, an egg holder for steaming eggs, a brief instruction manual, and a Japanese fabric carrying bag.

I already knew what I wanted to make first: cake!
I had bought some cake mix and found an Itaki-sized recipe from At Home With Theresa.
Theresa has experimented with her Itaki and these recipes are brilliant, so I'll definitely be referencing her site frequently.

To elevate the cake mix I used butter instead of oil, and coffee and buttermilk instead of water.
The batter:

After steaming in the Itaki for between 40-50 minutes:

On the cooling rack:

While the cake was cooling I whipped up a batch of peanut butter icing.
When the cake was cool I gobbed it on and decorated it with ancient sprinkles that I found in the back of the cupboard.

It turned out pretty good! The texture was a little gummy; I could have overmixed the batter because there was so little of it, or perhaps I cooked it for too long...or maybe steaming a cake makes it gummy. Still, it wasn't "bad". Felt kind of like using an adult EZ Bake oven!

For dinner I made the bulgogi (on the actual stove) and it was a lot of work and a huge mess for a "just ok" dinner, so unsure if I'll do it again.
I did like all the veggies, and the beef was quite good. A fried egg and some gochujang on top (post-photo) brought it all together.

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Sunday, I bounced out of bed because I was excited to make my breakfast egg in the Itaki!

Interluding fact: I have two breakfasts that I alternate between.
At some point I sat down with myself and asked, "What could you eat for YEARS without getting bored?", and made a list.
From that I decided on two breakfasts that I could alternate, to offer nutritional stability no matter what happened for lunches and dinners.

Breakfast #1: egg whites with misc inclusions, bread/toast, nut butter, fruit.
Breakfast #2: oatmeal with misc inclusions, Greek yogurt, milk and/or flax, fruit.

Today was an Egg Day, so I put a little water in the bottom of the Itaki and mixed up egg whites, dill, black pepper, and two small pieces of Boursin herbed cheese. While that was piping away I gathered the rest of my breakfast, made coffee, and did some stretching. After 15 minutes I checked on the egg.

It was done, and it was GREAT!
It was so delicate and creamy, almost custard-like in texture. The Boursin was a wonderful touch.
Next time I'll make it in the smaller steamer tray to see if it gets taller but keeps the custardy texture.
Huge success! I can't WAIT to take this on tour with me!

In the afternoon I finally started packing while Jameson was at the gym.
It wasn't difficult, but can be a little overwhelming having a load of items in one place and deciding where they should go.
I eventually got a basic Tetris thing going between packing cubes, toiletries, and appliances, keeping in mind the space and weight of the Itaki (which I'm not done playing with just yet). With almost everything I'm at 45 pounds, so there is a little wiggle room and if needed I can lighten things further.

The coolest thing is that I could potentially take both the Itaki AND the electric skillet with me!
Searing AND steaming. Damn, that's high society!

After a quick trip to the grocery I started on my Itaki beef stew and cornbread for lunch.
This time the recipe was from Cool Cucumber Cook, a person who has made lots of excellent recipes and shared them as instructional YouTube videos.

You pretty much just assemble all of the stew ingredients in the large bottom compartment, and the cornbread in the top.
To ensure that everything cooks well (and more quickly), you cut the veggies pretty small...not quite "diced", but I'd say about the size of kibble if you can visualize that, lol. The beef can be larger than that, but still not too large.

To my stew I added beef stock, thyme and rosemary, shallot, celery, and shiitake mushrooms, along with the potatoes, carrots, beef, and spices in the recipe.

The cornbread was tricky because I thought we had cornmeal but no, it was POLENTA. Whoops.
I didn't realize this until after I'd already mixed the batter, and scrambled to compensate by adding cake flour.

Anyway, here are the results.

The beef stew was peppery and delicious. Everything was cooked well through, but if I'd let it go another 20-30 minutes the vegetables would have been softer and the meat more tender (I think). If I do this recipe again, I'll do that and also add a cornstarch slurry near the end of the cook time to thicken it up a bit more. Otherwise the flavors were wonderful.

As for the "polenta bread", it was dry like the desert, but it WAS a cornbread of sorts.
I drizzled it with hot honey to make it good.

That and soaking it in the stew made it edible. I think it would have been lovely if I'd used the correct ingredients.
Overall I was very impressed at how this turned out.
On the road I won't be able to cook something this involved most of the time, because you can't just buy one teaspoon of cornstarch or 1/4 cup of cornmeal, you know? But SOMETIMES, we will be near a Sprouts or a co-op with a bulk section.

And THEN, my friends...some magic will happen :)

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Early early morning for discount court reporting.

I arrived to find that no one had sent me ANY information for my cases that day.
No contact info, no schedule. Not even the Judge's name.

A quick message to my boss got the ball rolling.
Normally I would have been upset at the inconvenience for all parties involved, but there's just no point.
The cases have been on my calendar for over a month. I was sent case info for the 31st a week ago.
There was no reason whatsoever that the Hearing Office couldn't get me that info at least 48 hours in advance.

Anyway, they got it to me about 10 minutes before the first case.
Luckily the Judge was super cool, we got along great and knocked out those cases quickly and efficiently.
At the end of the day she thanked me and said, "I hope I get you in my courtroom again!"

Aww. Sorry, chica. Maybe next year.

Back home I got to have an afternoon walk with Jameson.
We had Mexican for dinner while watching Sandman.

Almost forgot to mention, I finally wore my 70s-tribute outfit to work!

Sorry for the mess in the background, this is the guest bedroom where I'm currently packing for tour and it's like an explosion of crap in there right now.

Anyway, I love the cream-colored top, though tying bows is still hell and a half.
Frontal view so you can better see the bow.

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Another early morning on Tuesday, but that's ok. Only a few more days left.

This time I had all the info, and the judge was super nice, although she talked a bit slowly (that's her prerogative, just an observation).
We had one cancellation in the middle of the afternoon that allowed me to scoot to FedEx and mail my trombone mutes to the hotel in Rochester. They'll arrive on the 6th, which is almost a week ahead, but with the holiday coming up I'd rather early than late.

This in turn alerted me to the fact that, yes, there are only TWO WEEKS until I go on tour. What!!
It still doesn't feel real. But maybe after my last day of court reporting when I have to pack it'll sink in.

We had pizza for dinner, then went to the Grand Floridian around 8 to help celebrate our friend Lea's birthday.

(stock photo of the intimidating lobby. Someone at the party said, "It makes me feel poor in eight languages" haha)

Lea is an actress/dancer/entertainer, and so naturally most of her friends are as well.
She is a through-and-through extrovert, and so are most of her friends of course, so within a few minutes of our arrival more and more people showed up, and once everyone had drinks it started getting loud and a bit rowdy. Obviously not my scene, so I glued myself to a couch and tried to interact any time it didn't involve screaming across the room at someone. I felt bad for the waiter, he seemed mildly flustered and the bar kept sending over incorrect drinks (we got a few freebies out of that).

The Grand Floridian is expensive AF, so I had just one glass of a nicer Malbec than I'd normally enjoy.
Jameson had two mojitos which were perfectly balanced and therefore very worth the $$.
Lea's husband, Simon, wants one of my banana pups so we tried to make arrangements for him to come get one, but he was drinking a lot so not sure he'll remember our conversation. I just told him he's got to let me know a day ahead because I literally need to saw the pup off of the mother tree, and that is at least 30 minutes' worth of intense labor.

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Last day of August, whaaaaat.

Another early morning, this time with a cranky elderly judge who insisted on showing up IN PERSON even though he was scheduled to work from home. As a result we had some audio issues (I couldn't mute certain things because it would also mute the judge) but we got through it. The cases were fairly straightforward, and the last one didn't show up.

Home and dinner with Jameson and another episode of Sandman.
This show isn't really Jameson's cup of tea, it's dark and rather triggering in a lot of ways (which makes it an IDEAL show for me).
But he seems to be genuinely interested, and as a Neil Gaiman nerd I'm glad.

While we were doing that, my brother Jonah shared that he got a promotion!
He's now an Analytics Manager for Albertson's (the grocery chain and parent company of Safeway, Vons, Shaw's, Jewel-Osco, and more).
So proud of him!!!

Then I got a text from Tootsie's stage manager, asking if she could send out an invite to the whole cast for my Foodie Finds group!!
She knows about it because last week production sent out a short survey, and one of the questions near the end was "What else would you like us to know?". I used that space to tell them about the group, mostly because I lowkey wanted their approval to do it.

I think the stage manager is creating our new company-wide WhatsApp group tonight, and that's why she asked.
If she is volunteering to send the invite it'll save me a headache.
I was just going to lob it into the 80-person group chat and try to add people as they responded.
But if the invite is coming from production it's a lot more organized and legit.

Anyway, excited about that and hoping it's a fun thing for all of us to do, without too much drama.

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Today is the first day of September. Wow.
It feels like just a week or so ago I was unpacking from tour and starting my new jobs.
Now it feels like I'm repeating myself, like time has looped back and given me another spin on this ride.
And I am NOT complaining!

Today is going to be pretty slow. Jameson went to get a massage and will be back soon.
I am going to practice and do data entry and prep for my last day at court reporting tomorrow.

After tomorrow is over, the REAL tour prep begins.

My little Itaki electric lunchbox is scheduled to arrive on the 3rd, so you can enjoy watching as I experiment with it.
I have several recipes in mind including oatmeal and eggs for breakfasts; steamed rice with veg and meat for lunches; and stews and curries and pastas for dinners. We will see if this little thing will be capable of all that.

Now that MFF is production-endorsed, I will go back through the first months' worth and make sure it's absolutely ready to send, and then brace myself for answering invites, creating a group, and running a group. Which is all PLENTY OF SOCIAL WORK FOR ME THANK YOU, I DO NOT NEED TO TAKE ON MORE THAN THAT. With love and much thanks, xoxo.

Here we go.

Monday was mostly cooking.

I prepped both breakfast and lunch for work.
Breakfast: overnight oats with ground flax and high-protein milk, raspberries, Greek yogurt, and a few of my delicious preserved pine cones.
Lunch: "Tone It Up!" protein bar, slice of homemade wheat bread, low-sodium tuna pouch, Libby's veggie cup, handful of almonds, and a peach.

I got the crock pot meatloaf started shortly before lunch.
All the usual ingredients, shaped into a kind of rough oval and cooked for 5 hours.

The bigger challenge was the potatoes au gratin, which I tackled after lunch.
It's not HARD to make, just time consuming.

First I mixed heavy cream, shallots, garlic, thyme, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
Simmered on the stove until the shallots were soft.

While that cooled I sliced some russet potatoes very thin and layered them in a pie pan.
I don't have a mandolin, so had to do it by hand. Was pleased with my knife work.

I had to work quickly because the potatoes can oxidize and turn an unappealing shade of grey.
Did a cutesy flower pattern. You can layer them any way you want, but should try to have some edges up so they'll get crispy.

Blended the cream with our Ninja (an immersion blender would be way better but I don't have that) and poured it over the potatoes.
Into the oven at 325F for about an hour and a half.
Then out to cool. It needs to cool to allow the cream sauce to thicken.

While the potatoes cooled we went for our evening walk together.
It was very hot. We talked about how we're looking forward to fall weather, and Jameson explained some workings of one of his baseball Xbox games, which has gotten controversial because some player got expelled for drug use and since the game reflects real-life activities the gameplay has all changed. It was actually pretty interesting stuff. I'm always amazed when the digital and physical worlds collide in such a way.

Back home it was almost dinnertime, so I fired up the broiler, topped the potatoes with cheese, and put them in for another 15.
Sprinkled with fresh thyme before serving.

The sticking-up edges were crispy, while the layers below were creamy and decadent.

Served with slices of this meat football, which was also pretty good.

The vegetables were a disaster, I had bought nice fresh green beans and when I opened the bag they were slimy, like cut okra.
No good! Luckily I had some boring frozen veggies so just microwaved those quickly. Ho-hum, but it did the job.

I am lactose intolerant, and also count my calories.
Potatoes au gratin, loaded with fat and dairy, are not exactly a go-to for me.
But I plugged the ingredients into MyFitnessPal as a Recipe with six portions, then gave myself 1/2 portion of both meatloaf and potatoes, and that kept me under 500 calories for the meal.

After dinner we plugged away at our escape room game, and did a great job.
We even finished one puzzle with ten minutes to spare!

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Tuesday began the busyness for both of us.

I had discount court reporting in the morning.
The judge was no-nonsense, which I like a lot. It means he wants to start on time (yes, please) and he doesn't let claimants expound at great length (YES, please), and after each case he actually gives me his decisions instead of making me grovel or guess what he wants (yes, PLEASE!). So all in all it was a good and normal work day for me.

Jameson was not so lucky...I think most of his day was normal, but while loading up his car for rehearsal he bashed his finger really hard. There's a visible bruise under the nail.

A reminder that he plays PIANO. And has rehearsals EVERY DAY this week, and concerts over the weekend.
Argh.

My evening home alone was spent packing food and prepping clothes for work tomorrow, practicing trombone, making a hair appointment, ordering birth control, and jumping in on some data entry because there were some things that they wanted entered in ASAP.

Watched a little anime and thought many thoughts.
When Jameson came home we talked about our day and went to bed.

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Wednesday was similar. An early morning for me, a day of court reporting (this time it was 50/50 held cases/cancelled cases), then I went for my haircut. I came prepared with many pictures which didn't matter one bit, the stylist looked at them all and then did something totally different. Sigh. Whatever, it doesn't look "bad", just not my ideal.

During our chatting the stylist mentioned that I'd booked at a good time; college starts next week (the salon is near UCF) and things would be pretty crazy once school was in session. Based on that information I decided to hit a nearby Victoria's Secret to finally get bras, because if I wait I'll be fighting sorority girls for my sizes or something. I HATE shopping in general but bra shopping most of all, so I was glad to get this over with.

Back home I spent a little time with Jameson before he had to go to rehearsal, then ate dinner, practiced trombone, packed lunch, and had a big long chat with my sister Raven. She's a writer and has been submitting samples of her work via submission events on Twitter (had NO idea that was a thing but it sounded very efficient and time-effective). Then spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to tie the neck bow on my cream vintage shirt that I want to wear tomorrow. Somehow I never get the bow right. I'm literally going to have to get up extra early tomorrow so I can tie this damn bow.

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Thursday, got up early and tied the damn bow!
It wasn't perfect but just ok.

At work, a very normal day. Two canceled cases, and the timing was such that I got to take myself for two whole walks.
This added up to about two miles, so that was good.

On the way home I stopped to get ingredients for banana pudding cheesecake.
When I came back outside with my groceries it was POURING, full-on monsoon.
I shrugged and walked to my car, getting absolutely soaked.
If I had waited I'd be waiting for 30 minutes or more, and home was an hour away with perishable food in the trunk.

I got home just fine albeit uncomfortably wet.
Had a nice hot shower, and prepped a few things for tomorrow.
Mostly just grinding up the Nilla Wafers and making the vanilla pudding, and getting out the stand mixer and such.

As you can imagine, me and my lactose intolerant, low-fat self is not going to be eating loads of this cheesecake.
But Jameson is excited about it, and I want to bring joy to his life.
I'll freeze half of it. Frozen cheesecake is great, too.

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After today, only four more days of discount court reporting left.
On Monday I have Tootsie orientation via Zoom.
We're supposed to get onboarding paperwork as well, haven't seen that yet.

I have much to do over the next several days.
Tomorrow the cheesecake will probably take a good chunk of my day, it's something like a six hour process.
At some point I need to weed around the house and clean again.
Debating whether to go to Jameson's show...he's not enthusiastic about it and may not want me there. I'll ask.
And of course there's packing, and practicing.

Woke up at 8 on Friday to a slew of texts from siblings.

The half-siblings were discussing recent outbreaks of West Nile and Polio in their areas (yes, in the United States).
My contribution was, "Wait until 2050 when antibiotics stop working! Should be fun!"

The other chat was between my sister and step-sister and I, and they were sharing memories.
Today would have been our dad's birthday. He would have been 63.

Looking back on the memories that we all shared, I am sad and also grateful for that time together.
But there's no thinking about my dad at all, unfortunately, without anger.
You could have been 63 today. We didn't have to be here, and this didn't have to happen.

But there's no point crying over what-ifs and empty rooms and gifts not bought and cards not sent.

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I sent my letter of resignation to discount court reporting.
They were fairly cool about it (I'm giving nearly a month of notice) but it feels weird and awkward every time.

I did some data entry until the site crashed, then sat around to help troubleshoot a little.
When Jameson got up I went out to ship my trombone mute off.
After that, a trip to a physical brick-and-mortar bank.
Banks are just as bad as the DMV, huge lines and long waits for no apparent reason.
I wish there were an easier way to get quarters (sometimes groceries and laundromats have them, sometimes not) or I wish we could be done with physical money already.

Speaking of, my fancy new travel credit card showed up. Maybe now I can get some points toward hotel stays or flights for Jameson and I.
Next to arrive were our silk pillowcases, to hopefully help with acne. I got us stars.

After lunch, more data entry and then the start of gathering things for tour.
Many things I'd left in the suitcases anyway.
But sorting them helps me to determine where things should go, what I still need to buy, stuff like that.
For example, I'll need to obtain travel-sized dish detergent, a sponge, and some Q-tips.
I *could* get oatmeal and ziploc bags, or might wait until I'm in Rochester. It all depends on luggage weight as I add things.

We had a walk in the evening, dinner from Publix. Nothing amazing.

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Saturday. Breakfast. Data entry.

We decided that the pillowcases are "ok", but since they are silk they are slippery and I'm not sure Jameson will tolerate his for long.
That's ok, I won't let them go to waste. Maybe I'll even take one on the road with me.

In the afternoon Jameson went for a haircut and I went to get fish and vegetables for dinner.
Fresh Market this time, because the drive to Whole Paycheck is such a chore with theme park traffic.

I also stopped at Bath and Body Works. I hate that store, but no one else has such a variety of scents to choose from.
So once a year I brave it to get a body spray and a hand sanitizer.
This year I ended up with strawberry shortcake sanitizer, and some kind of "Midnight Amber Blah Blah" body spray.
I *think* they smell good, but it's always hard to tell in a tiny room packed with 800 scents and myself and 30 other people spraying them all over.

Back home I relaxed a little, then practiced.
When Jameson got back I did more data entry and made the mango salsa for the tilapia.

Dinner came together in a very short time. I started the Jasmine rice first, that was about 20 minutes in the rice cooker.
Tilapia is only about 6-8 minutes per filet, and the broccoli is 6 minutes to steam.
It's a very fast, easy, healthy and flavorful dinner.

The rest of the night was kind of whatever, we were both feeling a little run down so took it easy.

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Sunday. Tossed and turned all night, feeling very anxious. Jameson was rolling around beside me too.
No idea why.

While checking emails and reading posts on LJ and DW, noticed that I've been blocked from commenting or outright unfriended in a few areas.
Which, you know. Justifiable. I've done the same thing.
But it did serve to remind me to A) work on not having kneejerk reactions to things people say online, and B) if I'm the one doing the blocking/restricting, to make sure I tell the person why I'm restricting them.
This was a good opportunity for a note to self on that front, especially with Tootsie starting up again.
I can't avoid pissing people off or getting pissed off myself, but maybe being more mindful will reduce the casualties.

It was a weird day with not much to do.
I somehow did two hours of data entry without realizing that amount of time had gone by, then swept the pool deck which took only 20 minutes. Lunch was leftover fish and rice and mango.

To Publix for ingredients for meatloaf and potatoes au gratin.

We had our afternoon walk, watched an episode of Sandman, played an escape room game on Xbox and were so motivated by it that we started planning an escape room night for us and another couple that Jameson knows.

Not to brag, but Jameson and I are GREAT at escape rooms.
We make a great team because we communicate, we listen, and we have complementary puzzle-solving skills.
We have never lost a room when we've played together.
Since the pandemic we haven't gotten to enjoy an escape room, so we're really looking forward to it!

Jameson also bought us tickets to Mickey's Not So Scary, which has already started.

I noticed that Walgreens has their Halloween candy out already too.
Fall is coming fast.

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This morning I see many of my LJ and DW friends talking about how it's getting cool in the mornings, and wearing sweaters, and kids going back to school. Oh, the jealousy! Florida is locked in summer until October. 90-degree weather for at least another month.

But today is the 15th, and a month from now (knock on wood) I will be in New York working Tootsie up again.
And hopefully wearing sweaters.

Today will be all about prep, food prep and travel prep and work prep.
I'm finishing breakfast, then I'll prep breakfast and lunch for work tomorrow.
After that it's prepping trombone music, writing out my new solos for the Entr'acte and practicing.
Then prepping the meatloaf because it's a slow-cooker recipe.
Probably the potatoes au gratin too, so they'll be done and all I'll have to do is broil them briefly before serving.
And then more prepping my luggage, sorting things into piles, taking stock of what's needed.

Starting tomorrow Jameson has rehearsals or shows every night this week, and I have discount court reporting for three days in a row.
I'm also getting a haircut this week.
On Friday I want to make the banana pudding cheesecake that Jameson has been raving about, and we won't be able to eat it until Saturday.
And on Monday I have a Zoom orientation with Tootsie.

Hopefully it's a busy but productive and good week.

So Monday after breakfast and data entry I went to the grocery for a few small things.

Back home for lunch and to pack and prep for work.

Took pictures of things that I'd like to sell: my GoPro Hero 4 and accessories, a nice trombone mute that I've never used, that Trtl neck pillow that wasn't for me. But upon researching, the only thing that seems to be of any value is the trombone mute.

I tried to do more data entry in the afternoon, but the site was down.
I kept checking back every 30-40 minutes, but gave up after the 4th attempt.
Read my book, scrubbed the shower, started some letters, watched some anime.
Packed breakfast and lunch, laid out clothing for work.

Somewhere in there one of my two remaining pins showed up, the custom Ringling logo.

When Jameson left for rehearsal I ironed some shirts, vacuumed, took the vacuum canister outside to spray a clog out of it with a compressed air canister, chatted with the neighbors, and watered my bananas a little since it didn't rain yesterday or today (because I opened my fat mouth and said "iT rAiNs EvErY dAy ThIs TiMe Of YeAr!").

Finished my letters, checked and found the data entry job is back up and running, but I was in a mood so left it alone.

I'm in a mood lately because A) I am still sad about my impromptu audition results, and B) I haven't gotten anything further from Tootsie.
Yes they still have PLENTY of time to get things to me, but I'm one of those people who neeeeeeeds information in advance.
For example, I've only had one covid booster and that was almost a year ago.
If I need another before tour starts I'd like to schedule it.

And other questions plague me like flies: what time/day is my flight to Rochester? What hotel are we staying in (because I want to ship some things to myself and also want to know if we have a fridge)? What does our route look like? How much flying vs busing? Have there been any changes to the script and music? When do we get the contact list?

I don't expect answers to all of these before rehearsal starts...but I kinda DO expect answers to MOST of them.

And most of all, I want to revise my Megan's Foodie Finds based on our hotel locations.

But, nothing I can do except try to be patient.

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Tuesday I got up very early for work only to find that my first hearing is already cancelled.
So I guess I'll be going in three hours early "for fun".

Whatever. By my estimation I only have between 10-13 days of discount court reporting left anyway before tour starts.

The day went well. Most cases showed up and were normal and were on time.
I did have one weird case where we couldn't reach the claimant and for some reason the judge had me "testify" on the record that several attempts were made to reach the claimant. So I did that, but was confused about how to handle the case. I should have asked someone. It turned out that I was supposed to still mark it as a cancellation. Later in the evening, at home, I had to go back and redo all of my paperwork.
More free work! These people are certainly getting the better end of this deal!

Not only that, I also got a note from the data entry job that I had things to correct on a resident I added weeks ago.
Thank god I had saved the audio files and it only took me a few minutes to make the changes.
I feel like a screw-up today because of all the corrections, but both jobs have assured me that I'm doing "great" and that this is "normal".

On the way home I stopped at Whole Paycheck for ingredients and for sushi for dinner.
At home we ate the sushi and I made my corrections, then we both moped around.
We are both in unsatisfying places in our work. We are both frustrated and annoyed.

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Wednesday. Someone bought my trombone mute already for $50. I'll try to ship it off before Friday.

I made another attempt at my own honey wheat bread recipe, this time with seeds.
Made the Tangzhong and while it cooled I ate breakfast.
Then into the mixer went wheat flour, bread flour, egg, molasses (was feeling dark flavor today), yeast, milk, the tangzhong, and salt.
Mixed until it was starting to pull away from the sides of the bowl, then added my seeds.

Before the rise, cute little brown seeded dough ball.

After the rise, big fluffy brown seeded dough ball.

A little bit of rolling out and shaping with my hands.
As I made the final loaf shape the top of the loaf stuck to the counter a bit, and I wasn't willing to redo it, so already I know it won't be smooth and perfect on top. But that's ok. As long as I know the cause; that's what bugs me, when the finished loaf looks weird and I don't know why.

Into the Pullman loaf pan, and I oiled it thoroughly so it wouldn't stick like last time.

I think it turned out great. I love how deep brown the crust got.
And actually I don't mind the split in the top either, it's kinda cute.

The seeds were well distributed, there was no sinking to the bottom or gaping holes or anything like that.
But I do want to get a tighter crumb for my end result. Something closer to the crumb you get in commercial bread.

One way to do this would be to reduce the moisture in the loaf.
I had raised the liquid ratio as part of incorporating a tanzhong roux, and I could try bringing that back down a few grams.

Another way would be to do a single rise, but I kind of don't want to swing that way for the sake of the person whose recipe I'm using as a base.
And a third way is simply to handle the dough differently.
When I roll it out for final shaping I could try to squeeze more air bubbles out of it.
There are also some people who suggest making a "third rise" by interrupting the second rise halfway through, punching the dough down, and letting it rise again for the other half of the time. I don't like that idea very much.

I'll probably reduce the liquids a bit + try to really knock lots of air bubbles out before shaping it.
Overall though, this was a very successful attempt.
I really like the flavor of the seeds in there, and will be happy to add them for future loaves.

As my loaf cooled we went for our 2.5 mile neighborhood walk.
When we got back I sliced it up and put it away, then made us macaroni and cheese, Omaha Steaks hot dogs, and fruit salad for dinner.
I was mostly using up old pasta, and the hot dogs that have been in our freezer for over a year.

After dinner we finally ate the apple dumpling I'd brought with me from PA.
With ice cream of course.

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Thursday. An early morning to get to discount court reporting.

The first case was not until 10, three cases were unrepresented, and one was a video hearing, so I did not have very high hopes for a productive day. However I did get my final pre-tour enamel pin, so that cheered me up. A cute flytrap.

And as it turned out, I got to have four of the six cases, only two were cancelled. Not bad.

Now Jameson is at rehearsal, and I'm making a to-do list for the next several days.
The main thing is that I need to start my tour prep.
Tomorrow I'll give notice at discount court reporting.
I'll start practicing trombone a little each day, and packing a little at a time.
Scheduling a haircut, prepping a box to ship to myself (mostly mutes)
There's still data entry work, and cooking meals, and cleaning.
And I have the lofty goal of making a banana cheesecake before I leave as well.

Woke up later than intended on Friday.
Feeling a little down. I guess that's going to come and go for a bit.

Breakfast was egg whites with herbs and balsamic, the leftover rustic bread I'd made, almond butter, high-protein milk, and ground cherries (goldenberries, whatever you want to call them).

Jameson got cursed out by a student first thing in the morning, so that put him in a mood, poor guy.
I worked on data entry for a bit and finally placed my Amazon order for tour items.

I always b*tch about spending for tour prep, but considering I blew a LOT more money on last year's prep and almost everything turned out to be absolutely essential, I shouldn't complain. The only things that were a waste were the immersion coil (it would not heat to boiling) and the 6" electric skillet, which only lasted half the tour before breaking and it never worked that well to begin with.
Oh, and the stupid neck pillow. Idk why I thought I'd ever sleep on a plane.

I bought a Coffeevac container (if this doesn't protect my coffee, I give up!!); extra detergent sheets (I have some left over from last year so these will be for me to pick up over Christmas break); a travel-sized can opener and mini whisk (I wished for these many times last year); a new kind of face wash (I'm cursed with large pores); and a portable phone charger.

I still need to get a white bra (I only have one and it's falling apart).

Jameson also mentioned that he'd like to try silk pillowcases, so I picked up two of those ($$!!).
We both have acne especially bad this year, so we're hoping this will help a little.

After lunch I did more data entry, then decided to dig through some of my things and gather my ticket stubs, wristbands, letters, stickers, programs, and other mementos gathered over the years into one place.

There was more than I had realized. Also, a lot of it was damanged because while with the circus I'd decorated my fridge and the back of my door with a lot of these.

Here are a few paper mementos of Ringling.
I have many more mementos of my time there, but in the form of non-paper objects like shirts, cups, bags, keychains, etc.

I am astounded at how many ticket stubs I've kept.
There are 52 total, and this isn't even one from every place I've been and every show I've seen.
For example I only have one Queen ticket, and I know we've seen Queen at least three times.
And I hardly have any stubs from my time with Tootsie, because more and more places do digital tickets.
I want to go through them and make a list of the places, to put in the box with them.

Then there is more recent stuff, like my Tootsie programs and bag check tags and hotel keys and such.
I also kept this official-looking letter, which was given to me at the start of the pandemic, giving special permission to travel to and from work during travel bans (this was back when some states were considering road blocks and curfews and such).

I have done a lot of things!
I wish everyone could do these things, too.

On the way to pick up dinner for us I stopped at Publix for a lime and two small single-shot bottles of rum, for to make popsicles.
The lady at the counter was absolutely flabbergasted that I was 38 years old.
No joke, she looked at my license and yelled, "84! That can't be right!"
She even called her coworker over and they both made a huge racket over my ID, holding it up to the light and bending it a lot before finally just scanning it (they REALLY didn't believe it).

It was kind of ridiculous, but of course it felt good to get the "compliment", which I'll file in my memories for later enjoyment in the nursing home.

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Saturday, breakfast and data entry for a few hours.

Lime coconut rumsicles!

Nothing complicated here.
A can of full fat coconut milk, juice and zest from one lime, 2-4 Tbsp maple syrup, and rum.
Into a blender for a bit, then into the freezer for 40 minutes to firm up so I can add shredded coconut at the base.

I did half with toasted coconut, half with untoasted. This one is untoasted.

The texture was lighter than ice cream, milky and very refreshing.
I was annoyed that a lot of the zest settled into the tips of the molds, but there was lime juice throughout so it didn't really matter flavor-wise.
They were indeed not as sweet as a commercial popsicle, but I didn't mind that. Because RUM.
Also a slight bitter aftertaste from zest and rum.

I liked the flavor of the toasted coconut, but the texture of the untoasted (it was kinda chewy).
In fact next time I may blend the shredded coconut in. I was worried it would ruin the creamy texture but I think it could be nice.

In the afternoon we went for a walk, chatting about this and that like we always do.
We realized that Jameson might leave for a trip to Vegas on the same day that I go back on tour. Cool!
I'm glad he's taking a solo vacation. I wish he'd take like five more, haha. He's past due on relaxation time.

For dinner I continued the coconut milk trend with one of our standby recipes, coconut curry chicken meatballs.
Served over brown rice, topped with mango salsa and toasted coconut.

I've made this many times and am always pissed at how dry the meatballs turn out.
This time I tried baking them surrounded in chicken broth, and that didn't work either.
I think the people who wrote the recipe decided that since coconut milk is so fatty, they'd use a lean meat (chicken or turkey), but the result is really unpleasant. I want to incorporate some fat into the meatballs next time. Maybe I'll add an egg, or milk and bread, or just use some pork.

Also, the mango salsa is just mango with finely chopped jalapeno and lime juice/zest, and it is SO GOOD.
I want to eat it every day.

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Sunday.
After breakfast I went through the items from my Amazon delivery, which had shown up the previous night.
Everything arrived intact. I charged up the external battery and dumped everything else in the spare bedroom.

A few hours of data entry, lunch, and we went for a walk as it wasn't raining for once.
Afterward I was sweaty and disgusting so settled on finally fertilizing the banana trees.
I always put it off because it's a pain. It's hot, it's stinky, you have to dig down fairly deep around the roots to place the pellets.
You're supposed to water afterward but at this time of year I just leave it, because it's sure to rain in the afternoon or evening.

My copse of banana trees. Gaggle? Posse? Gang? Something like that.
Reminder that I bought two, and now have SIX.

The little offshoots are doing well because they're leeching off mama tree.

While digging around the base of each tree, I startled up this house spider (or maybe it's a wolf spider).
She is very large, perhaps 1.5"-2" if including her legs. In fact I thought she was a lizard at first.

Here she is next to a prong on my "chicken foot" for scale.
(Idk what this hand tool is called and I don't care. Chicken foot.)

Of course I left her alone after taking the photos, I probably frightened her pretty good.
Finished up my work and got inside for a nice cool shower.
Rest, a snack, more data entry.

Pizza for dinner.

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

Now it is Monday and I've finished breakfast, sipping coffee and about to start data entry.
I woke to a text from a friend, a bassist on The Lion King, who said he'd put in a good word for me with the MD of Beetlejuice.
That's kind of him!

It boggles me how many musicians that I know who are on stable, union gigs. Yet I myself have not been able to land one.
That is on ME of course, on my neglected abilities or my refusal to be social or live in New York.
And also (I can probably thank my stubborn, self-sufficient dad for this), I HATE having to have others vouch for my abilities.
It's common and expected and absolutely acceptable, but in my mind it's not right to do.

In this case, since my friend spoke up on his own, I'm not upset. Just squirming a little inside, like now I must owe him a favor.

Tonight Jameson has rehearsal, so I will clean and take myself for a walk and prep for discount court reporting tomorrow.

Woof, Monday.

I managed to sleep, though I woke up excited or anxious a few times due to Thing I Can't Discuss Yet.
After breakfast (which I barely tasted) I worked on data entry stuff while waiting for a phone call.
It came eventually, and then afterward a packet of audition materials which I downloaded right away.

At first glance I was intimidated by the audition materials.
There was a LOT, and some of it was for bass trombone which I haven't played for a decade.
But, fear is a good motivator.
I'm afraid of doing poorly; of ruining this opportunity; of rejection.
I fear that they'll watch my audition video and say, ugh, whose idea was it to contact HER?
I'm afraid that by NOT practicing bass trombone every day forever (even though I've only had one bass gig in my whole life) I've somehow ruined this entire chance.

But my motto is, fear is a terrible foundation for any decision.

I could choose NOT to take the audition. Problem solved! Fear avoided. And a lot less work too.
But avoiding "the hard part" out of fear means saddling yourself with a much heavier burden of guilt and regret and "what-ifs" later on.
No thanks!

So, today was spent in the spare bedroom working on the music.

I sounded like garbage of course, haven't played since the tour ended.
But I did my best, and the music was not as intimidating by the time I was done.

Jameson and I ate lunch and I did some more data entry, then back to practicing.

Dinner. I cleaned the bathrooms. Jameson went to rehearsal.
Back to practicing.

Jameson is going to help me set up for the recording aspect of things tomorrow.
My plan is not to "officially" record tomorrow, but I will record throughout the day on the off chance that I catch a good take.

Oh, also the slimes that I ordered from TikTok arrived today!

https://instagram.com/p/CgvRREis5bS

They are both awesome! They smell fantastic.
The Oreo one is for Jameson, he was both pleased and weirded out by the crunchy Oreo bits.
His slime smells just like cookies and cream! It was a bit runny, so I'll have to research what to do about that so he can handle it better.

Mine is Planet Drool, and it looks like a galaxy in a jar.

The one I originally wanted was similar and was called Northern Lights, but it sold out in a flash.
This one is still so cool! It was easier to handle than Jameson's and had all sorts of irridescent colors in it, and little silver rocket ships, UFOs, planets, and stars. It smells kind of like pineapple.
They'll just be fun to play with once in a while, maybe when we're feeling stressed.
And they're beautiful to look at.

If you're interested, the shop is called pilotslime and she restocks on a specific day each month, announced on IG or TikTok.

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

Tuesday. I slept poorly again because my brain likes to torment me with unrealized possibilities.
I got up at 8:30, resolved to record some good takes today so I can have a good night of sleep.
Maybe I'll even get the whole thing done, who knows.

Jameson had helped me set up a little amp in the spare bedroom, because this music is better played with accompaniment.
It was also storming like CRAZY last night, I was relieved when I heard Jameson's car pulling into the garage after rehearsal.
No one needed to be driving in that!
My friend donnad said there were 2 1/4 inches of rain over the course of I think two hours, and then it kept raining for a while after that.

Jameson had a car appointment and while he was out I managed to get like 80% of my excerpts recorded.
They're very not perfect, but unfortunately I don't have more than one additional day for nitpicking.
My Tootsie contract could come any day, so it was more important that I turn these materials around quickly.

I wish I sounded better. I wish I'd practiced during the break. I wish I had the whole week, instead of a few days.
If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.

After lunch I wrapped up the last few excerpts, then spent the next two hours editing video and uploading to YouTube (it shouldn't have taken that long but I'm an idiot when it comes to video editing). I wrote a nice email and dropped the link in there and sent it off.

Mission accomplished. Now I wait and see if anything changes, or if things stay the same.

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

Woke up and had breakfast and got a nice rejection letter from Thing I Can't Discuss.

So, ok...it was an audition for the Broadway tour of Aladdin.

Lots of thoughts and emotions on getting rejected for this opportunity, but in the end it's no surprise.
(I've never won an audition.)
What was surprising was being asked to audition at all.
So I'm very grateful for that. Not many people can say they got the chance.

Could I have done better? Yes, with another week of practice; and if I had been more of a bass trombonist; and if maybe I hadn't been feeling the pressure of being partially committed to Tootsie. I might have done better.
But still, even then, would I have been good enough?

I doubt it.

Again, I'm incredibly grateful that the opportunity came.
But, for today, I couldn't help but feel disappointed and rather down on myself.

Well...I took my mopey self to Whole Paycheck to get the ingredients for shrimp po'boys tonight.
Usually I enjoy shopping at upscale groceries, but having wasted money on pins and slimes this week, and then having lost the audition, I was feeling pretty disappointed with myself. I just grabbed what I needed and got back home.

Made the marinade for the shrimp and two different aiolis, one for the po'boys and one for the sweet potato fries.
Packed breakfast and lunch for tomorrow's court reporting, and did as much data entry work as I could.

The whole time I was kind of flowing through a bunch of feelings and thoughts.
Eventually I settled on a perspective that I came across, cornily enough, on a TikTok.
It was someone who pointed out that the things that we consider "bad" or "failures" might seem bad in the moment, but could be necessary events in order for better things to happen later on in life.

I know, I know. The lies we tell ourselves, right? :p

But, thinking about it that way did put me in a better frame of mind.

Making the po'boys was easy.
Marinated the shrimp for 20 minutes in a blend of spices, lemon juice, sauces, and olive oil.
Grilled them using the grill pan. My recipe calls for them to be tossed in butter sauce after grilling but I don't like that addition, it's oily and flavorless. So instead I poured the marinade into a saucepan and thickened it with a little corn starch. It coated the shrimp nicely.

Toasted the rolls and spread them with the aioli, which was made with relish, capers, shallot, black pepper, mustard, Worchestershire, and a little hot sauce. Added the grilled shrimp.

Topped with shredded lettuce and tomato. Meanwhile I had sweet potato fries in the air fryer, they were done in minutes.
Served with a sriracha honey aioli dipping sauce.

After dinner, of course, ironically, I finally got my Tootsie contract.
But this also made me feel better.
I'm still musically wanted somewhere. I still get to go on tour and experience some exciting new things.
I still get to enjoy a few months of reasonable pay, and saving a little money.
I'm still disappointed. But grateful.

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

Thursday, back to discount court reporting.

It was a wasted day. I got paid for two hearings and all the rest were no-shows. I like this job, but it is not sustainable and unless things have drastically changed when this tour is over I’ll not be coming back.

During breaks I went to Target, walked in a big circle around the SS building in the 100-degree heat, and commiserated with my sister Raven about rejection (she’s a writer so she gets it.)

I populated my Amazon shopping list with a handful of items for tour, some of which are needed and others that are just convenient.

Detergent sheets; face wash; travel-sized can opener = necessities.

A portable phone charger because of the one time I got trapped at a grocery in Memphis at night with 5% phone charge left and no Uber would come for me.

A vacuum-sealed container for my coffee because I have tried every cheaper option to no avail, and now I give up.

A resistance band because I know I’m too lazy to go to the gym but maybe not too lazy for 10 minutes of resistance each day.

A portable food scale, maybe. It’s not a necessity so I haven’t committed.

No court reporting for like four days, so here are some goals for the week:

- cook two meals
- sort through belongings and take things to thrift store
- write letter of resignation
- clean the shower (urgh boooo hate this chore)
- at least 15 hours of data entry work
- make coconut lime rumsicles!!

In closing...would you like to hear my audition?
There are lots of mistakes, especially on the larger trombone.
But anyway, this is a pretty normal way to send in an audition, in case you were curious.
They ALWAYS want a video to confirm it's you, and sometimes to see your technique.
Watch on YouTube

**Gentle reminder for those who are not subscribed: I post twice weekly now, on Thursdays and Mondays.
You can navigate back to read the Thursday post if you missed it.**

Thursday I did not have work, but did have an orthodontist appointment at 11am, which meant getting up at 9 for breakfast and the hour drive.

I was referred by my dentist, purely cosmetic.
My front teeth overlap, and while it hasn't been much of a problem for most of my life I have noticed that it HAS gotten worse over time, and I accidentally bite my lip with that overlapping front tooth a lot more often than I used to. It's annoying, and is also making me self-conscious. I really would like to correct it.

The problem is that I play the trombone.

The orthodontist x-rayed my horsey face, and we discussed my teeth.
He called them "immaculate" as far as hygeine. Oh my, I was flattered!
They may be horsey but I do take care of them.

I have an overbite, so I'm always going to have a gap between my top and lower teeth, he explained. He wanted to make that clear so I'm not expecting miracles (I wasn't). My options are to do metal braces, which are more accurate for placement yet cost less; or the clear alignment (Invisalign), which are less accurate for placement yet cost more. In addition, the braces can be put on within four weeks of consultation, whereas the aligners take six weeks because of the turnaround after the teeth mold is sent out.

Either way, this is not something I'll be able to do before the tour starts up again.
The earliest I could possibly get them on would be the last week of August, two weeks before the first rehearsal.
I'm not going to risk damaging my mouth or finding out I can't play with braces in right before a nine-month tour.
So, this will be a possibility for afterward.

Also, I am not at all concerned about the aesthetic of having metal braces at the age of 38.
Far as I'm concerned, being able to afford a cosmetic tooth alignment is a flex.

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

On the way home I picked up more protein shakes and some vegetables, and some hot honey to try on our wings tonight.

Back home I ate lunch and chilled for a bit, then went to the gym.
I did the same "wussy routine" of 15 minutes on the elliptical followed by 15-20 resistance.
I did a lot of arm stuff, so when I was taking a shower back home my arms were trembling when I lifted them a certain way.
Cuz I'm a wuss :p
But that's ok. The goal is just to maintain, maybe slightly improve. I'm happy with what I have and want to keep it.

After my shower I had the sudden realization that I'd completely forgotten to reorder birth control pills.
I'm not sexually active, but have taken birth control for many years due to painful menstrual cramping.
In over a decade I have never missed a pack, this will be my first time.
I wonder what will happen...probably just some spotting and extra cramps.
Anyway the pills should arrive in a week or so, so I'm not worried.

I made the wings for dinner and they were great.
The hot honey was better added afterward as a drizzle, we decided. Cooked onto the wings, a lot of the flavor was lost.
The hot honey was also FANTASTIC drizzled on our pizza.
We have vanilla ice cream in the freezer, I'll try it on that and also in my oatmeal at some point.

Before bed I did my remaining data entry work so I won't have to worry about it tommorow OR so they can give me a new resident to work on tomorrow.

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

Friday, another early morning for discount court reporting!
I woke up with a sore throat, but as it was mild I ignored it (internal freakout, commence!).

Wheat bread, egg whites, raspberries, peanut butter, half a protein shake, and coffee for breakfast.

I arrived early and was able to set up in room two, and also get my email issue sorted out in room one.
Then I got set up in room four for work.
For the first time, I was ready at the start of hearings!
And the Judge was ready!
And all of the phone numbers I'd been given were correct!
And everyone was ready when I called them!

After nearly two weeks at this job, this is the first time I've been able to start a case (actually all three cases!) on time.
It's a freaking Christmas miracle.

The Judge was great and easy to work with, the cases were normal, nothing dramatic or ridiculous.
I was so pleased. Wish every day were like that.

At the end of the day I found out that I'd been misscheduled for the 25th, so won't have work again until the 27th.
What to do! What I SHOULD do is more work for the data entry job.

On the way home I picked up a covid test (negative) and then went to Whole paycheck for ingredients for paninis.
Mainly I needed the fancy cheese and the ciabatta rolls.

Back home Jameson treated us to order-in sushi from a nice restaurant since he had a credit. I got sashimi, it was so nice.

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

Saturday, I was still feeling under the weather but it seemed very much a sinus issue.
(TMI ahead) The sore throat was gone, and in it's place was some minor yellow boogers from one nostril and an eyeball headache.
Still, after consulting with Jameson I will test again tomorrow so he'll know whether it's safe for him to go to rehearsal.

While Jameson took a much-deserved lounge by the pool, I made my loaf of wheat bread for the week.
I am trying to develop my own recipe, of course using someone else's recipe as the base (this is acceptable to do, trust me, I researched it so I wouldn't piss anyone off or steal anyone's hard work).

My recipe will be similar to the one from Jenny Can Cook.
The changes I'm definitely making:

1) Add a Tangzhong roux
2) Add a second rise (surprising that there's not one already!)
3) Increase liquids to 255mL for the roux
4) Increase bread flour slightly to 70g
5) Add 1Tbsp vital wheat gluten

I think that is enough major changes to make it my own recipe.

Gave it a shot today.
Overall it went pretty well, up until I did two things wrong.
I underproofed it and it had a blowout along one side, which isn't a huge deal.
But then I also didn't oil the pan enough and/or used too much egg wash, causing the bread to stick.

This is the first time that has ever happened to me.
I had to free it with a knife and the results were not pretty.

Murdered loaf lol. But otherwise you can tell it would have turned out nice.

Stab wounds aside, the rise was good, the crumb was good.

For next time, I've GOT to stick to a minimum one-hour rise time.
Because the last loaf was overproofed I freaked out this time and cut the rise short.
Gotta STOP that! One hour minimum!!

The rest of the day was very lazy.
We watched Blown Away, which if you haven't seen it is a glassblowing competition and it is AWESOME.
The artwork is incredible and the process is fascinating. There are three seasons now, so give it a watch :)

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

Sunday after breakfast I worked on my data entry job.
I picked a random profile and it turned out to be quite boring and easily completable (this still meant about two hours' worth of work). This poor person sounded quite depressed, and I hope that the completion of their profile will help staff at the nursing home to provide a better experience for them.

I picked another profile that sounded a little more upbeat, then Jameson and I had lunch and watched TV.
Deli chicken meat, mashed avocado, carrot sticks, wheat bread, and frozen cherries for me.

The afternoon was fairly lazy, neither of us went anywhere. I weeded around the house and felt jealous of the neighbor's pineapples.
They have two now and they both look lovely. Jameson says I can have a pineapple plant, but I don't dare until touring is over.

My vanilla is looking photogenic as well.

Back inside I got started on dinner.
"Dual Panini", I call it.

Here we have a caprese panini, and a ham and Brie one.
Caprese: basil, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, and balsamic drizzle squished in a ciabatta roll.
Ham: thin-sliced ham with mustard, Brie, spinach, green apple, and peach preserves, also on ciabatta.

There was something missing with the ham sandwich.
Maybe next time I'll make it a pseudo-Cuban and throw a pickle in there.
It needed acid or "bite", which I thought the green apple would provide but it was too mild.

The caprese was great, only I want to research how to make the tomatoes less drippy.
I know sun-dried is always an option, but we don't like those very much.

Overall, though, really tasty crunchy creamy melted-cheesy goodness. Not to mention super easy.

After dinner we went outside to read because it was actually temperate out there for once.

Jameson was reading "My Bass and Other Animals" by Guy Pratt, session bassist and performer for Pink Floyd and Madonna among others.
And I read "Fall: Or Dodge In Hell" by Neal Stephenson. I freaking love Stephenson's works. I'm going to swear because that is how into this author I am: he is just so goddamned INNOVATIVE. He is an advisor to Blue Origin, and has also been working with Magic Leap, a startup dedicated to superimposing computer imagery over real-world objects using absolutely fascinating augmented reality technology.

In other words he is more than just an author. But all of the projects that he's involved in, and all of his genius, become so accessible, and heartwarming, and exciting, through his books. I love love love reading them, and rarely have the time.

Tonight, sitting outside with my favorite person, just reading quietly together while dusk fell and the bugs began singing in the trees...it was a real treat.

Monday was less of a clusterf*ck than it could have been because I knew which rooms were available to me.

I got there right at 7:30 and started setting up in two rooms. Whichever computer loads fastest, wins.
That turned out to be the computer in Room 5, so there I went.

Got all of my documents ready, gathered my video meeting invites, reached out to the judge to let her know I was here.
She requested that I add her to the meeting first.

So, I opened Teams. And there was no waiting room.
Everyone was just, THERE, all at once.

The judge decided that this was MY fault and had a lot to say about it, followed by a lot of heavy sighing and exasperation because the lawyer said he was in the waiting room (there WAS no waiting room!)
I contacted tech support to confirm that the issue was not on my end, and then getting a new link for a new meeting took about 20 minutes. While this was happening I tried to break the awkward silence with updates on what was happening, only to have the judge snap, "I'm not familiar with the technology," so, ok, my bad, shutting up now :X

In the judge's defense, they said this was the third or fourth time they've held this hearing because some technological snafu has always gotten in the way of either the proceedings or transcript. I get it, and I hate MS Teams for this reason. But considering we were still perfectly able to hold hearings and were only delayed 15-20 minutes, I didn't think it was worth the rage being dished out.

But whatever, it's just another Monday in whatever miserable alternate timeline we've all fallen into here in 2022.

Thankfully we only had two hearings, and the second one was only five minutes long.
But then I looked at my docket for tomorrow and it's the same judge for the whole day. Sigh.
They are all phone hearings, so hopefully things will go smoothly and that will put the judge in a better mood.

The IT department was too busy to set me up in any rooms today, so I spent a little extra time preparing my paperwork for the next two days, hoping to spare myself stress. With that done my biggest concern is being able to find an available hearing room, and frankly if there isn't one that's not my fault either.

On the way home I stopped at FedEx to mail out some of the custom Beef on Weck pins I'd ordered to my bandmates.

It is really bothering me that I haven't heard anything about Tootsie yet, but I know I need to be patient.

On the way home I picked up Target sushi for myself, but then Jameson's rehearsal got cancelled so I had nothing for him.
Not only did the rehearsal get cancelled; the whole show, because of covid. I guess we're not through it yet.

And then he got the bill for his surgery ("Not a bill, just a summary") for FORTY THOUSAND DOLLARS.
Not a real bill, but god DAMN, I truly hope his insurance covers 99% of that because otherwise we are in TROUBLE.

I try not to think about this country's horrific, bullshit healthcare system.
But at some point it will rear it's ugly head, and one of us will be facing bankruptcy over a stubbed toe.

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

Early, so early on Tuesday.
Breakfast of cold overnight oats with flax and raspberries, Greek yogurt, and ultrafiltered protein milk. And coffee.

At work I was able to sign in and get set up with minimal issues. A miracle.

It was the same snippety judge as yesterday, except today they were in a good mood so there was no excuse for how they talked down to some of the claimants, and at one point bit the vocational expert's head off for talking too fast (she was talking at the same speed she'd been all day as far as I could tell). Whatever, this is just not my favorite judge and hopefully I'll be assigned to them infrequently.

I avoided any demeaning talkdowns in my direction by simply saying "Yes Judge" and "No Judge" and "We're on the record Judge" and not much else all day. All of the hearings went smoothly because MS Teams wasn't involved, thank god. I was happy to send my paperwork in and drive home.

Another day of hearings tomorrow, this time they'll be spaced an hour apart which I think is perfect. Most hearings are around 30-45 minutes, and having 15 minutes at the end to wrap up paperwork or set up for the next hearing or just PEE is ideal. I don't care if it makes the day longer, it makes more SENSE and it's more accommodating to claimants, too. When the hearings are only 15 minutes apart you are guaranteed to be seen late, and I think that's inconsiderate scheduling. But what do I know, I just got here.

Just to clarify, I really do like this job. I like the work, the people seem really nice, most judges so far have been awesome, and hearings are incredibly interesting. I complain either because something got under my skin (happens at every single job) or because there are inefficiencies that I dearly wish could be made better, thereby making this a better job.

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

Another 5am wakeup because I needed to set up in a different room and early morning is the only time it's usually possible.

Bless his beautiful heart, John the IT guy was ready and waiting for me when I walked in at 7:30.
We got my station all set up, just in time for my first case at 9am.
Yes, it took about an hour to set up a normal Windows profile and applications.

But unfortunately the Judge was the one with issues this morning.
I dialed everyone into the Teams meeting, and she couldn't hear anyone, although we could all hear her.
This was definitely an issue on her end, so there was nothing to do but wait while Tech Support helped her out.
That took a whole hour, so we didn't get started until 10am.

We continued on that way, an hour late for each case, until noon because that had been a scheduled break.
So, skipping the noon break made the last two hearings on time.

Go figure. I desperately stole bites of wheat bread, green beans, "Tone It Up!" bar, tuna, and pear during lulls in transcription.
At least I was still able to eat.

The worst part of all of this isn't the technical issues or the missed lunch breaks.
It's that those issues, combined with poor scheduling, mean you end up sitting in uncomfortable chairs hunched over a keyboard for the ENTIRE DAY. No time whatsoever to stretch or go for a short walk, except to the bathroom. Overall it seems like whoever is running this operation thinks everyone working in this system is a robot with no biological needs. It's really weird. I mean I know some jobs are intensive or repetitive or whatever...but it seems to me that an agency that handles nothing but disability claims would have, I don't know, policies in their own workplace to prevent work-related disability!

Anyway, Despite all that it was a good day because all the cases were held.
I was exacting with my transcripts, so didn't have to stay late to edit them.
Doing my paperwork a day in advance was wonderful. I just had to check a few boxes for each case. Glorious.
I set up my paperwork for my next workday before leaving.

On the way home I stopped at Sprouts to get bulk seeds.
I want to add seeds to my next loaf of wheat bread, just to see how it goes.
I got pepitas, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, hemp seeds, sesame seeds, and poppy seeds (I wanted chia but they didn't have.)
And I grabbed some wings, we can enjoy them for dinner tomorrow.

Pretty bland week because I was working, but I'm glad to have the work.

Tuesday, off to the Toyota dealership.

I do this every time I've been away for a while.
Jameson moves my car for me while I'm gone, but he's no mechanic.
Lots of things can corrode or become damaged just from sitting outside in Florida's extreme climate day after day.

The associate looked at me like I was nuts when I explained there was nothing actually wrong, but I wanted the car looked over.
"It's been in storage", I explained, "and I'm driving up the coast to Pennsylvania next week."

Two hours later I STILL hadn't gotten an update on my car, so I texted the associate and was told it would need misc fluids flushed.
Ok, cool. I approved the repairs.

Two hours later they said my car was done.
I hopped in and noticed some empty water bottles in the passenger seat; annoying, but again, whatever.
The the windshield was dirty, so I pressed the fluid button.
Nothing happened.
Went back inside and let the associate know. She disappeared into the garage and came out a short while later.
"Ok, they've topped you off, you should be good to go!"

Great. Back in the car. Tried it again. Nothing.
Turns out there was a hole in the line...chewed through by some rodent.
"Want us to fix that?" the associate asked.

Um, YES. I've been here for FOUR HOURS specifically so y'all could find and fix shit like this.
It was busy at the dealership, and I was patient with the associate as this wasn't her fault.
But I did say to her, would it not make sense, after they "top it off", to maybe check to see if the fluid comes out?
She agreed of course, poor thing, and I waited an additional 20 minutes while they put in a new fluid line.

It would have sucked to be caught without washer fluid on my upcoming 19-hour drive.
I really, really hope that's all they missed.

On the way home I stopped at Gideon's Bakehouse.
I was still angry about the failed Hawaiian mochi, and wanted to get Jameson something special.
If you haven't had a Gideon's Bakehouse cookie, here's what they look like:

(not my picture, not my hand)

Gigantic and amazing, and probably delicious :)
I got two regular chocolate chip, a pistachio toffee, and a banana walnut.

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

Wednesday, early morning and work.
I feel pretty comfortable about most things now.
The main issues are going to be when something goes wrong, like when some judge's assistant fails to send our schedule the night before, or when we need a document that I don't know where to find, or there's a technical issue and I don't know who to contact.
But you know what, with all of those things, I can only do what I can do, and ask for help.

The actual job, I'm confident that I can do.

Today's cases went quickly. I really like when they're spaced roughly 45 minutes apart, that seems like a good time frame.
Some judges have them scheduled every 15 minutes which makes no sense to me.
Others have huge gaps in the middle of the day, so I'll be stuck with several hours of boredom and deskercises (and not getting paid, because we are paid per case. BOOOOOO)
This judge was my favorite so far. She hustled her cases along, but still allowed everyone to say their piece without seeming pushy or impatient. And she asked pointed questions and talked quickly. All of her cases ended within the 45 minutes, giving us plenty of time to wrap up paperwork and prep for the next one. I wish all days were like today!

Our last two cases were cancelled, so I got home earlier than expected.
This was good because I had work to do for my data entry job finally.
I got started on that while Jameson packed up and left for a rehearsal (he's just auditing for some audio work he's doing later).
Once he'd left I got myself a Chick-fil-a salad, swept the pool deck, prepped my clothes and lunch for tomorrow, and spent about two hours doing data entry. For dessert I had half of the pistachio Gideon's cookie, and it was freaking amazing.
It's really like a gob of cookie dough TBH. Rich and decadent and I probably should have only eaten a quarter of it, but oh well.

Later on, I could hear an owl hooing loudly from all the way inside the house, so I went out back to enjoy the insects and other night sounds.

CLICK HERE to listen.

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

Wednesday was my last day of training for discount court reporting.
I got my trainer a gift card from Wawa as a thank you, she was chuffed.
(I noticed that she gets two coffees from Wawa each day, a hot one in the morning and an iced one in the afternoon).

The day ended up being rather stressful because some poor sap at the Judge's office never sent us our paperwork for the day, plus Wanda's computer took 20 minutes to restart, so we spent our whole first hour harassing the Judge's assistant and sweating while the computer grudgingly took minutes and minutes to load the most basic programs.

Eventually everything got going, though, and for the most part our hearings were on time.
There was also a break in the middle of the day which I used to pick up some groceries and book an AirBnb for an upcoming visit home.

Some of my family (my remaining family, I guess you could say) are getting together around the 10th, just to see each other.
It is very rare to get all of us in the same place.
One of my sisters came down with covid so probably won't be coming, but so far everyone else is still planning to come.
It'll be my aunt and uncle and two cousins; my sister who lives in town with her husband and son (we are meeting at her house); my brother Jonah, and myself. My sister Raven is our covid-sufferer and won't be coming, but we'll video chat her in.

I made a big mistake as far as travel and hotels for this visit.
First, I waited too long to book a flight because the prices kept jumping up and down by almost $200!!!
That, and all of the cancellations lately, had me nervous about pulling the trigger on a flight.
Driving is more expensive and a huge time cost, but ultimately I'd rather spend it than wake up to find my flight cancelled and have to miss the visit. So now I'm driving 19 hours up the coast, gas stops and all. $$$$

The other mistake was waiting to book a hotel.
I figured, nothing's going on in my dippy hometown. I'll wait until the last minute and get a good price.
Well a few days ago I checked the bookings, and there are NO hotels available under $150 per night.

I completely forgot about my hometown's summer redneck event: the 4-Wheel Jamboree. F*ck!

Loads of hicks from out of town and even out of state will be converging on the fairgrounds and tearing it UP.
As this event has been going on since before I was born, I surely don't mind all that.
But I DO mind not having anywhere affordable to stay!
The good news is I found a "reasonable" AirBnb but it's well outside of town, so more driving. Sigh.
The room was $65, but the FEES, oh my god!! Fees were as much as the room!!

Whatever, whatever. Grin and bear it.
It'll work out. And I do enjoy road trips in the end.

Finally the day was over, and I hugged my trainer and thanked her for helping me to learn.
The next time I come to work, I'll be on my own. Yikes!

I drove home, stopping to get more groceries and dinner.
Jameson had already left by the time I got back.
After dinner I wanted to go for a walk, but a sudden crack of lightning convinced me otherwise.
I must have been more tired and stressed than I realized, because I fell asleep right on the living room floor.
The sound of the rain probably helped.

When I woke up I cleaned up a bit and started packing my bag.

Tomorrow I will gather the remaining ingredients for dinner, plus some passion fruits to bring to my sister.
I'll make dinner for us and finish packing, and hopefully work on my data entry stuff (which I was supposed to do today before I got hit by that random nap). And then on the 9th I'll get up insanely early and start the drive to Pennsylvania.

I haven't been home since my dad's funeral.

Monday was pretty much covered in last post.

I finally finished the last episode of Stranger Things.
Went for a walk with Jameson.

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

Tuesday, waking up at 5am and having to eat that early is kind of a pain.
But if I don't eat there's no guarantee I'll have the chance again until at least noon if not later.
So, egg whites and oatmeal bread and peanut butter and raspberries and coffee.

Off to Alafaya. Past the coded door and to the foyer, where the two security guards and several hearing reporters (VHRs) were talking excitedly. This was the first day of in-person hearings since the pandemic started over two years ago, after all.

They were having sort of a huddle to check with each other about how things go for in-person.
Which really wasn't all that different from remote hearings.
Security Guard 1 was in charge of wanding people to death with a detection wand, checking bags, clearing folks for entry.
Security Guard 2 would then give them paperwork, most of which is a big questionnaire asking about covid symptoms and whether your address has changed, tedious things like that.
The VHRs would bring people back to the judge once the questionnaires were complete, and wipe down surfaces after everyone had left.

Seemed straightforward to me!

My trainer had me sign in, then went to make copies and while she was gone the judge came in.
A middle-aged guy who raised his eyebrows at me and said, "You're not Wanda...!"

I introduced myself. He seemed like a nice guy, and he definitely turned out to be.
Just super patient and chill no matter what fell in his lap throughout the day.
Which turned out to be two cancelled cases, two full cases, and one postponed case because the claimant decided partway through that they no longer wanted to represent themselves.

In between cases there was indeed time for a short lunch.
I ate, but between bites I worked on our end-of-day paperwork such that when the last case was over for the day, all we had to do was attach all the files and send the emails. Easy peasy.

I still left right at the worst possible rush-hour time, so didn't get home until after 6.
Some days will be like that. If your last case of the day is at 3:30 and it goes for an hour, then you have an hour's worth of paperwork, so be it.

Back home Jameson filled me in on his doings.
His follow-up was today, and they said he's doing great and should recover nicely.
They showed him the size of his mesh (it's almost a brick-sized rectangle, much bigger than we thought!) and explained what each of the incisions had been for. Three were for manipulating tools, one was for a camera, and the one at his belly button was where they pulled the mesh in. Crazy to think about, and awesome too.

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

Wednesday, I got up early for a dentist appointment.
My dentist is downtown so it was quite a drive, but I used it as an excuse to visit the Asian grocery in that area as well.

My teeth!

Everything was fine but they did push cosmetic adjustments a little strongly this time.
Yes, I know I have horse teeth, people. But fixing that shit ain't cheap. I'll think about it but that's likely as far as it will go.

At the iFresh, which is the name of our Asian grocery here in Orlando, I was pleased to see they've gotten that baby bottle yogurt milk.
Everyone should experience it once!

As always there were so very many things that I wanted.
These canned milks had such cute graphics! I wanted them all. But they were ridiculously high in sugar plus contained milk powder, which is a big no-no for lactose intolerant people who don't want to be up all night. So I had to pass them by.

Other wishful thinking items included canned quail eggs, salted preserved duck egg yolks, and a bag of cream-flavored sunflower seeds (what does that even MEAN?).

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