(no subject)
currently listening to The Bird & the Bee's new album (thanks LJ music comms). Inara's voice is just as sweet-sounding as ever.
sadly all my well-wishing as of Friday night did not seem to make a difference & i have indeed contracted some type of cold. i've really been taking it easy today & yesterday. i've just been lounging / reading / practicing piano accompaniments / etc. Cory works at Sam Ash today so i've been here @ the apartment just chillin & playing a lot of piano.
this coming week = concert week. my students have their concert(s) on Wednesday during the school day. no idea why the school decided to do the concert during the day & not at night like most schools usually do. oh well. works out fine for me, since i'll still have the night free & be able to play at Italian Affair. $$ = good
i'm realllly hoping my kids (ha that sounds funny) end up doing a good job. last week i brought in a video camera & videotaped each class singing their respective songs (each grade level sings 2 songs). i gave a little talk about concert etiquette & what to/not to do during a concert. most kids seemed to get it. still, there were a few who still think its funny to act up and try to be the center of attention. when doing a mock rehearsal, i had one 4th grade kid just randomly decide to turn to the boy next to him & just pick him up. sigghhhh. but yeah, i'm really hoping everything goes smoothly. this will be my first time in the music teacher role for a concert. i'm certainly well-versed with student/performer & accompanist. we'll see how it goes. i'm also accompanying for the high school & middle school's concerts. lotsa stuff to doooo
earlier this week was the RY concert in Philly. Cory & my cousins came along with me & it was a good time for the most part. i think this was the... 7th?... time i've seen her live. hehe. Cory's 4th time, cousins' 1st time. the setting was a bit different this time... it was actually held at the First Unitarian Church, which hosts a lot of musical concerts. i'd just never been there before. it felt a little strange to me to see a concert in a church setting but oh well! the setlist was pretty good but there were a couple stretches of ballad after ballad. being a fan of slow songs, i didn't really mind... but i know my cousins are generally into faster, more intense kind of music so i was hoping they weren't bored. they are remarked on how funny she is live, which is totally true. all the banter is one of my favorite parts of seeing her live.
halfway through the show we went up & sat on the floor near the front. in the beginning of the show she had told some people way in the back to actually come up & sit down in the front. i'd kinda been wanting to do the same so halfway through we decided to go for it. we were kind of in a bad spot though cause i think there was some kind of bar at the front right of the church (at least people kept walking in & out of there with drinks in hand??) & people kept walking/stepping around us constantly. kinda annoying. after we moved up front the clarity of the vocals suffered a bit. where we were first sitting, we had a speaker right by us which was occasionally too loud but at least her vocals were reallllly clear. once we moved up front, not so much. oh well
ohhhh & beforehand we did indeed go to Hostario da Elio for dinner... yummmm. some of the best gnocchi i've ever had :) Cory had been there a couple times beforehand with me but it was my cousins' first time there. i think everyone enjoyed the food... at least i hope so!!!
what else? earlier this week - Monday, i believe - i stopped in at ShopRite. upon enterting the store i noted that the fire alarm was going off, as were the sprinklers in the cafe area. i found a store employee & inquired about whether or not things were ok / should i leave the store? she said that things were fine and that someone just hit the wrong switch or something, which made the sprinklers & alarm go off. trying to ignore the obnoxious sound, i went about my business, looking for the handful of things i came in for. a few minutes later, an announcement comes over the speaker: "will all customers and employees please evacuate the store? thank you for your cooperation." hmmm....
i wondered what had changed from just a few minutes ago? a slight smell of something burning started to permeate the air. at said point i'd only found a couple of the things i came in for. complying, i went up to the front of the store & asked if i should just leave my basket of stuff there in the front of the store or what. one of the cashiers replied with "well, i can just ring you up now if you want, real quick..." ... at which point i darted as quickly as possible to the frozen section, picked up the 2 remaining items i needed (ignoring another employee who told me that i needed to get out), dashed back to the checkout area, and convinced the girl to ring me up real quick. i was the last customer out of the store :) i left feeling rather smug and accomplished.
after that i had to run up to RiteAid to pick up a prescription. 15 minutes later, i drive home past ShopRite and see all kinds of police cars & fire trucks there. oh how glad i was that i managed to pay for my stuff and get out. otherwise who knows for how long i wouldve waited there, only to get a couple things. muahaha.
well i guess thats enough nonsense for now. time to go get ready & meet Cory @ Carrabba's in a bit. yummmmmyyyyy. oh how i ♥ Carrabba's :) here's hoping i'm feeling better tomorrow & that this week goes as seamlessly as it can.
sadly all my well-wishing as of Friday night did not seem to make a difference & i have indeed contracted some type of cold. i've really been taking it easy today & yesterday. i've just been lounging / reading / practicing piano accompaniments / etc. Cory works at Sam Ash today so i've been here @ the apartment just chillin & playing a lot of piano.
this coming week = concert week. my students have their concert(s) on Wednesday during the school day. no idea why the school decided to do the concert during the day & not at night like most schools usually do. oh well. works out fine for me, since i'll still have the night free & be able to play at Italian Affair. $$ = good
i'm realllly hoping my kids (ha that sounds funny) end up doing a good job. last week i brought in a video camera & videotaped each class singing their respective songs (each grade level sings 2 songs). i gave a little talk about concert etiquette & what to/not to do during a concert. most kids seemed to get it. still, there were a few who still think its funny to act up and try to be the center of attention. when doing a mock rehearsal, i had one 4th grade kid just randomly decide to turn to the boy next to him & just pick him up. sigghhhh. but yeah, i'm really hoping everything goes smoothly. this will be my first time in the music teacher role for a concert. i'm certainly well-versed with student/performer & accompanist. we'll see how it goes. i'm also accompanying for the high school & middle school's concerts. lotsa stuff to doooo
earlier this week was the RY concert in Philly. Cory & my cousins came along with me & it was a good time for the most part. i think this was the... 7th?... time i've seen her live. hehe. Cory's 4th time, cousins' 1st time. the setting was a bit different this time... it was actually held at the First Unitarian Church, which hosts a lot of musical concerts. i'd just never been there before. it felt a little strange to me to see a concert in a church setting but oh well! the setlist was pretty good but there were a couple stretches of ballad after ballad. being a fan of slow songs, i didn't really mind... but i know my cousins are generally into faster, more intense kind of music so i was hoping they weren't bored. they are remarked on how funny she is live, which is totally true. all the banter is one of my favorite parts of seeing her live.
halfway through the show we went up & sat on the floor near the front. in the beginning of the show she had told some people way in the back to actually come up & sit down in the front. i'd kinda been wanting to do the same so halfway through we decided to go for it. we were kind of in a bad spot though cause i think there was some kind of bar at the front right of the church (at least people kept walking in & out of there with drinks in hand??) & people kept walking/stepping around us constantly. kinda annoying. after we moved up front the clarity of the vocals suffered a bit. where we were first sitting, we had a speaker right by us which was occasionally too loud but at least her vocals were reallllly clear. once we moved up front, not so much. oh well
ohhhh & beforehand we did indeed go to Hostario da Elio for dinner... yummmm. some of the best gnocchi i've ever had :) Cory had been there a couple times beforehand with me but it was my cousins' first time there. i think everyone enjoyed the food... at least i hope so!!!
what else? earlier this week - Monday, i believe - i stopped in at ShopRite. upon enterting the store i noted that the fire alarm was going off, as were the sprinklers in the cafe area. i found a store employee & inquired about whether or not things were ok / should i leave the store? she said that things were fine and that someone just hit the wrong switch or something, which made the sprinklers & alarm go off. trying to ignore the obnoxious sound, i went about my business, looking for the handful of things i came in for. a few minutes later, an announcement comes over the speaker: "will all customers and employees please evacuate the store? thank you for your cooperation." hmmm....
i wondered what had changed from just a few minutes ago? a slight smell of something burning started to permeate the air. at said point i'd only found a couple of the things i came in for. complying, i went up to the front of the store & asked if i should just leave my basket of stuff there in the front of the store or what. one of the cashiers replied with "well, i can just ring you up now if you want, real quick..." ... at which point i darted as quickly as possible to the frozen section, picked up the 2 remaining items i needed (ignoring another employee who told me that i needed to get out), dashed back to the checkout area, and convinced the girl to ring me up real quick. i was the last customer out of the store :) i left feeling rather smug and accomplished.
after that i had to run up to RiteAid to pick up a prescription. 15 minutes later, i drive home past ShopRite and see all kinds of police cars & fire trucks there. oh how glad i was that i managed to pay for my stuff and get out. otherwise who knows for how long i wouldve waited there, only to get a couple things. muahaha.
well i guess thats enough nonsense for now. time to go get ready & meet Cory @ Carrabba's in a bit. yummmmmyyyyy. oh how i ♥ Carrabba's :) here's hoping i'm feeling better tomorrow & that this week goes as seamlessly as it can.