Concert #6: A Golden Anniversary
This has been a weird week, but at least the concert itself seemed to go well.
I don't know what was up with Wednesday. It was just odd. I think part of it has to do with my not sleeping well several days this week; I was going to bed kind of late and waking up kind of early. Even today, I feel like I could stand a nap. (I keep trying to talk my boss into siestas. He keeps saying no.) I want to say something strange happened on the way to work, or at work, but...oh, right. Storms were predicted in the afternoon/evening, so rain was probable, but wasn't entirely expected in the morning. However, I get to the last main street on my ride to work and the sky lets loose. It wasn't quite pouring, but pretty close. And yet it was almost dry when I pulled into work, which is maybe 50 yards off this street. Bizarre. After work, I wanted to run some errands and was looking for specific items from the office supply store. Office Max? No. So back across town to Office Depot. By then it's officially rush hour, and the turn lane I'm in is backed up, but one car moves and the others shift up--except the car in front of me apparently doesn't realize she doesn't need to go 35 MPH to go a car length and rear-ends the next car up. Nice. And I can't get around them for a while, so I put on my four-way flashers for a minute until traffic lightens up enough for me to move. After all that, Office Depot also doesn't have what I need. I'm not too surprised but you never know--especially since the particular items I wanted, I went looking for on their website. Oh, what I wouldn't give for a Staples right now. Sure enough, I pass a Staples on the way, they have what I want for the most part, and I leave a happy camper. Much of what I needed was work-related, except I was buying it for my use and not getting reimbursed (my boss didn't even know I was doing it). I'd wanted two very basic poly binders, like, the kind that are so cheap, you wonder who on earth would use them? Well, me, for items I want to keep together but they're not *so* important that I need the bestest binder ever. I already had one, actually, but it's pretty full and I wanted to separate some stuff out. Thanks to Staples, mission accomplished.
While there, I could hear thunder outside. Great, the storms are coming. The sky was already a dark gray with funky clouds. By the time I finished, it was close enough time-wise that I could go to band, so I got to the park and quickly tried to eat my dinner while still in my car. I got through the main portion, but while eating my fruit, bright flashes of lightning flew above my head, and I figured I should get in the building as quickly as possible, finishing eating there. The door was actually open so I was able to go right inside the bandshell. It started raining not long after, and while the door stayed open for a while--people were saying they wanted to hear the clarinets complain about the situation, heh--it did go down before most people got there. I was thankful; remember, in times like this, I basically play a lightning rod. Of course, with the door closed that meant we could feel the air conditioning, and a fair amount of people complained it was cold. I thought it was okay; it was in the 80s and pretty humid, so it was fine. Not so fine: The reason I mentioned my sleep issues, because there came a point in one of the songs where I could not focus my eyes, and it freaked me out, to the point where I temporarily couldn't play. Worse was that I knew I was all red in the face, too, but most people probably couldn't see me. It took a few moments for me to go, okay, just relax and have some water and it'll be okay, and I was able to play the back half of the song. But it was weird. I could see the music, but the notes weren't in the right place. It was almost like I was seeing double lines of music, like when first and second part are on two different staves--like piano music. Well, that was disconcerting. That's never happened before. Even on the way home, there was an unusual occurrence; I was stopped at a light when I saw something trotting a few car lengths back behind my car. There was a coyote crossing the street. Oh, wow. What was mildly scary was that, ahead of me and across the street, there was a couple taking a walk. Hope they didn't meet my new furry friend.
Yesterday was better, though after I got off work I was tired and cranky, and I felt like I could fall asleep any minute. I went to a local park to sit outside and read my paper--walking has been nearly nonexistent this summer--and got slowed down by a super-poky driver who left his turn signal on for longer than necessary, then insisted on backing into a spot, but in part because his signal was on, his intentions weren't clear. I was totally exasperated by him and just wanted to get around him. Oy. And, with the new Pokemon Go craze, I totally saw at least three different groups in the general area who clearly were playing the game. They're everywhere. Please don't try to catch anything near me. I also had to worry about the wind; it was pretty gusty at times, which is not conducive to reading a paper, but I made it work.
This was a special concert. One of our tenor sax players is celebrating 50 years with the band. I'd had no idea until we were given the listing for the summer's shows. It's funny because he's one of the early arrivers like me, so I've been talking to him for much of the time I've been in band, and while I know he's older and likely older than my parents, I didn't know he was *that* old. I did get a chance to talk to him afterward and he seemed to have a nice time, plus he hadn't known ahead of time what the MC would say about him, so he thought she did a nice job. One of the special things we did for this concert, for which he picked out the music, was a sax feature; all the saxes then sat in the front row, necessitating the moving of the flutes and piccolo (the oboe was not upended). It was really interesting to have them in front of me for once; they're usually in the third row and off to my left, so I hear the altos and that's it, as the tenors and bari are too far over for me to hear unless I'm sitting with the piccolo. During rehearsal on Wednesday, the flutes all switched places with the saxes, which was *really* weird because, as the Eb clarinet player said, high sounds were coming from the wrong place. And, well, when do the firsts sit behind the seconds? Hey, this almost makes it look like I'm first chair! Heh. But trying to rearrange the band isn't the easiest thing ever, so four of the six flutes ended up walking off the stage entirely during the concert to avoid the crush of people trying to switch around. At least it was a song with just one part, aside from a few places where first and second flutes are in harmony, so it's not like our part was bottom-heavy. Alas, while I was hoping to make it through the concert without anything weird happening, I didn't; I had two songs where I had troubles, one about the third song in, and the other after the raffle (where the T sax player's grandkids got to pick the winning numbers). This time, my eyes felt funny, like when you cut an onion and you have a hard time keeping them open. That's what happened. Oy. The good news is that I was able to go to bed earlier than I had been, and I slept a little longer last night, but you can't catch up on sleep in one night, if at all, so I was really tired today. I'm so glad it's Friday.
Also, something special happened on Wednesday, so it wasn't all bad. Two weeks ago, playing piccolo, I was sitting in the front row when the oboe player came along, schlepping a bunch of stuff with her, including what likely is a music bag. For whatever reason it just really tickled my fancy that day--it was a bag with flutes on it, and there were birds on the flutes. I knew I got WAY too excited about it and had to explain that I used to have a bird and so they hold a special place in my heart. (By the way, she'd started on flute, which is why the oboe player had such a bag. She'd gotten it in the fifth grade or so.) So on Wednesday, before rehearsal, she walks over to me holding something and places it on my stand. She goes, you were so excited about this that I wanted you to have it; I washed it for you. It was the bird flute bag. Oh, my goodness. You don't have to do that! But she really wanted me to have it. Oh, wow. How sweet. I'm not at all sure of what I'm going to do with it, but I feel like I have to do something. And, well, it was a bright spot in an otherwise not great day.
I don't know what was up with Wednesday. It was just odd. I think part of it has to do with my not sleeping well several days this week; I was going to bed kind of late and waking up kind of early. Even today, I feel like I could stand a nap. (I keep trying to talk my boss into siestas. He keeps saying no.) I want to say something strange happened on the way to work, or at work, but...oh, right. Storms were predicted in the afternoon/evening, so rain was probable, but wasn't entirely expected in the morning. However, I get to the last main street on my ride to work and the sky lets loose. It wasn't quite pouring, but pretty close. And yet it was almost dry when I pulled into work, which is maybe 50 yards off this street. Bizarre. After work, I wanted to run some errands and was looking for specific items from the office supply store. Office Max? No. So back across town to Office Depot. By then it's officially rush hour, and the turn lane I'm in is backed up, but one car moves and the others shift up--except the car in front of me apparently doesn't realize she doesn't need to go 35 MPH to go a car length and rear-ends the next car up. Nice. And I can't get around them for a while, so I put on my four-way flashers for a minute until traffic lightens up enough for me to move. After all that, Office Depot also doesn't have what I need. I'm not too surprised but you never know--especially since the particular items I wanted, I went looking for on their website. Oh, what I wouldn't give for a Staples right now. Sure enough, I pass a Staples on the way, they have what I want for the most part, and I leave a happy camper. Much of what I needed was work-related, except I was buying it for my use and not getting reimbursed (my boss didn't even know I was doing it). I'd wanted two very basic poly binders, like, the kind that are so cheap, you wonder who on earth would use them? Well, me, for items I want to keep together but they're not *so* important that I need the bestest binder ever. I already had one, actually, but it's pretty full and I wanted to separate some stuff out. Thanks to Staples, mission accomplished.
While there, I could hear thunder outside. Great, the storms are coming. The sky was already a dark gray with funky clouds. By the time I finished, it was close enough time-wise that I could go to band, so I got to the park and quickly tried to eat my dinner while still in my car. I got through the main portion, but while eating my fruit, bright flashes of lightning flew above my head, and I figured I should get in the building as quickly as possible, finishing eating there. The door was actually open so I was able to go right inside the bandshell. It started raining not long after, and while the door stayed open for a while--people were saying they wanted to hear the clarinets complain about the situation, heh--it did go down before most people got there. I was thankful; remember, in times like this, I basically play a lightning rod. Of course, with the door closed that meant we could feel the air conditioning, and a fair amount of people complained it was cold. I thought it was okay; it was in the 80s and pretty humid, so it was fine. Not so fine: The reason I mentioned my sleep issues, because there came a point in one of the songs where I could not focus my eyes, and it freaked me out, to the point where I temporarily couldn't play. Worse was that I knew I was all red in the face, too, but most people probably couldn't see me. It took a few moments for me to go, okay, just relax and have some water and it'll be okay, and I was able to play the back half of the song. But it was weird. I could see the music, but the notes weren't in the right place. It was almost like I was seeing double lines of music, like when first and second part are on two different staves--like piano music. Well, that was disconcerting. That's never happened before. Even on the way home, there was an unusual occurrence; I was stopped at a light when I saw something trotting a few car lengths back behind my car. There was a coyote crossing the street. Oh, wow. What was mildly scary was that, ahead of me and across the street, there was a couple taking a walk. Hope they didn't meet my new furry friend.
Yesterday was better, though after I got off work I was tired and cranky, and I felt like I could fall asleep any minute. I went to a local park to sit outside and read my paper--walking has been nearly nonexistent this summer--and got slowed down by a super-poky driver who left his turn signal on for longer than necessary, then insisted on backing into a spot, but in part because his signal was on, his intentions weren't clear. I was totally exasperated by him and just wanted to get around him. Oy. And, with the new Pokemon Go craze, I totally saw at least three different groups in the general area who clearly were playing the game. They're everywhere. Please don't try to catch anything near me. I also had to worry about the wind; it was pretty gusty at times, which is not conducive to reading a paper, but I made it work.
This was a special concert. One of our tenor sax players is celebrating 50 years with the band. I'd had no idea until we were given the listing for the summer's shows. It's funny because he's one of the early arrivers like me, so I've been talking to him for much of the time I've been in band, and while I know he's older and likely older than my parents, I didn't know he was *that* old. I did get a chance to talk to him afterward and he seemed to have a nice time, plus he hadn't known ahead of time what the MC would say about him, so he thought she did a nice job. One of the special things we did for this concert, for which he picked out the music, was a sax feature; all the saxes then sat in the front row, necessitating the moving of the flutes and piccolo (the oboe was not upended). It was really interesting to have them in front of me for once; they're usually in the third row and off to my left, so I hear the altos and that's it, as the tenors and bari are too far over for me to hear unless I'm sitting with the piccolo. During rehearsal on Wednesday, the flutes all switched places with the saxes, which was *really* weird because, as the Eb clarinet player said, high sounds were coming from the wrong place. And, well, when do the firsts sit behind the seconds? Hey, this almost makes it look like I'm first chair! Heh. But trying to rearrange the band isn't the easiest thing ever, so four of the six flutes ended up walking off the stage entirely during the concert to avoid the crush of people trying to switch around. At least it was a song with just one part, aside from a few places where first and second flutes are in harmony, so it's not like our part was bottom-heavy. Alas, while I was hoping to make it through the concert without anything weird happening, I didn't; I had two songs where I had troubles, one about the third song in, and the other after the raffle (where the T sax player's grandkids got to pick the winning numbers). This time, my eyes felt funny, like when you cut an onion and you have a hard time keeping them open. That's what happened. Oy. The good news is that I was able to go to bed earlier than I had been, and I slept a little longer last night, but you can't catch up on sleep in one night, if at all, so I was really tired today. I'm so glad it's Friday.
Also, something special happened on Wednesday, so it wasn't all bad. Two weeks ago, playing piccolo, I was sitting in the front row when the oboe player came along, schlepping a bunch of stuff with her, including what likely is a music bag. For whatever reason it just really tickled my fancy that day--it was a bag with flutes on it, and there were birds on the flutes. I knew I got WAY too excited about it and had to explain that I used to have a bird and so they hold a special place in my heart. (By the way, she'd started on flute, which is why the oboe player had such a bag. She'd gotten it in the fifth grade or so.) So on Wednesday, before rehearsal, she walks over to me holding something and places it on my stand. She goes, you were so excited about this that I wanted you to have it; I washed it for you. It was the bird flute bag. Oh, my goodness. You don't have to do that! But she really wanted me to have it. Oh, wow. How sweet. I'm not at all sure of what I'm going to do with it, but I feel like I have to do something. And, well, it was a bright spot in an otherwise not great day.