Thursday 11-17: The librarians, session 16 (plus a shopping excursion)
Day #4. Last one. I can do this.
I was pretty tired Thursday morning, but given that this was my day with my biggest break (in theory) between when I got off work and when I had to be somewhere, this seemed like the best day to run any errands. I wanted to go to Kohl's, but the closest one to work didn't have what I needed, so I decided to trek out to the one in Downers Grove. Also, there's a family baby shower coming up in a couple weeks, and I needed to get a gift while there were still decent ones available (and I never went online to check the registry, so I had no idea what my cousin and his wife might want), but I've been so busy that I completely forgot that it was even happening. It took my one coworker mentioning a bridal shower she was attending this weekend to make me go, oh yeah, I gotta do this! Lucky for me, there was a Buy Buy Baby across the street from Kohl's, so that was easy.
My Kohl's trip was not very exciting. I am on the lookout for turtlenecks, either regular or mock. I'd picked up several a couple years ago, in white, pink, and lavender, and I realized I'd like to have a mint green and baby blue to complement other sweaters I have. When it gets pretty cold outside, it's nice to have those layers. Alas, when I thought to look for them last year, it was too late in the season and they were gone, if they'd had them at all. This year, so far, all I'm seeing are bolder, darker colors--not at all what I'm looking for. Rats. I didn't leave empty-handed, but I also didn't leave with what I'd really wanted. Maybe I should check, like, Walmart or something.
Buy Buy Baby at least was better. I will say, that was our freakishly warm day, like 70F+. It was super windy as well, to the point where you dread getting out of the car because the sustained winds were at least 20 MPH, if not higher. Given that we were past the midpoint of November and, again, it was 70F, it wasn't entirely surprising. Anyway, I got the registry and looked through it, deciding to get this nice frame that will hold monthly pictures from newborn to first birthday. They also had tummy stickers as well, so you put the sticker on the baby so you automatically know the age when you look at the picture, which is pretty clever. Finally, I went with a stuffed Eeyore, vintage-style, because it was cute and I couldn't help myself. This is my cousin who was like a brother to me growing up, as we never had siblings, so I don't mind getting several things for them.
I got into the band building maybe about 15 minutes early. The jazz group was practicing so everything was open, and I'd seen Harold Hill's van, but he wasn't back behind the setup. Hmm. I ran to the washroom to freshen up and when I returned, he was there. Okay, let's get to work. I'd realized, not long before arriving, that I'd neglected to bring my face masks. I'd forgotten to put one on last time, and definitely planned to do so this time, but given how busy I'd been all week, I totally forgot to stick them in my bag. I think part of it is that I didn't have to go through the motion of putting my travel toiletry bag in my work bag; it stayed there the whole week. Had I done that, I likely would have remembered. Oh well. I'm no worse for wear, but I was concerned because there's definitely illness going around, and my dad's had a bad cough all week, so anything I can do to stay healthy, I will.
It really only ended up being me, Harold, and Amaryllis. Mrs. Paroo was there, but she was quickly taken away by Harold's daughter, the soon-to-be-ex-band manager. It was made official at the last band rehearsal that Mrs. Paroo is taking over that position, and the daughter wanted to go over a few things, knowing she'd be there tonight. Good; that means she'll get a key to the building and can come over whenever she wants. As it is, she brought a laundry basket with her to take a bunch of songs home to get them catalogued. The stacks are so high on her table that it's hard to know what's going on. I'd even forgotten the system we'd worked out last week and put the music I'd gone through in the wrong place, oops. This week, I found a stack of music with bass saxes and calliopes. Like, more than one song had those parts! Very unusual. I've been told that my great-grandfather played the bass sax, and I remember telling my grandfather (the son-in-law) that it's called a *baritone* saxophone, not a bass saxophone. Oh, was I corrected, and told that it was a huge instrument. I've still never seen one in person, but yeah, and I have found a picture of my great-grandfather with an alto sax, so I do know that sax was his horn. It makes me wonder, as I type this up, if he ever played any of the songs we're coming across. Also, there are random pieces of paper in these scores. Many of them are programs from the community band the music's former owner played with, but occasionally it's something else. We found a flier for the guy's retirement party back in like 1982. It had his picture on it. I propped it up against the marching music on the table I'm working at, just so we can be reminded of how this all came about. We're making some progress, but it's still slow-going. We only have a few more piles of full-size music left, but they're tall, and we probably won't be through it before February, given that we'll likely take a break from this in December. After that, the plan is to sort through all the hundreds of marching folders to sort by composer, and then do the same thing--make sure all the music is there. This will take ages, and we haven't had a full complement of workers yet this year. Oh well. It's not for everyone. But at least some people are working on it.
I was pretty tired Thursday morning, but given that this was my day with my biggest break (in theory) between when I got off work and when I had to be somewhere, this seemed like the best day to run any errands. I wanted to go to Kohl's, but the closest one to work didn't have what I needed, so I decided to trek out to the one in Downers Grove. Also, there's a family baby shower coming up in a couple weeks, and I needed to get a gift while there were still decent ones available (and I never went online to check the registry, so I had no idea what my cousin and his wife might want), but I've been so busy that I completely forgot that it was even happening. It took my one coworker mentioning a bridal shower she was attending this weekend to make me go, oh yeah, I gotta do this! Lucky for me, there was a Buy Buy Baby across the street from Kohl's, so that was easy.
My Kohl's trip was not very exciting. I am on the lookout for turtlenecks, either regular or mock. I'd picked up several a couple years ago, in white, pink, and lavender, and I realized I'd like to have a mint green and baby blue to complement other sweaters I have. When it gets pretty cold outside, it's nice to have those layers. Alas, when I thought to look for them last year, it was too late in the season and they were gone, if they'd had them at all. This year, so far, all I'm seeing are bolder, darker colors--not at all what I'm looking for. Rats. I didn't leave empty-handed, but I also didn't leave with what I'd really wanted. Maybe I should check, like, Walmart or something.
Buy Buy Baby at least was better. I will say, that was our freakishly warm day, like 70F+. It was super windy as well, to the point where you dread getting out of the car because the sustained winds were at least 20 MPH, if not higher. Given that we were past the midpoint of November and, again, it was 70F, it wasn't entirely surprising. Anyway, I got the registry and looked through it, deciding to get this nice frame that will hold monthly pictures from newborn to first birthday. They also had tummy stickers as well, so you put the sticker on the baby so you automatically know the age when you look at the picture, which is pretty clever. Finally, I went with a stuffed Eeyore, vintage-style, because it was cute and I couldn't help myself. This is my cousin who was like a brother to me growing up, as we never had siblings, so I don't mind getting several things for them.
I got into the band building maybe about 15 minutes early. The jazz group was practicing so everything was open, and I'd seen Harold Hill's van, but he wasn't back behind the setup. Hmm. I ran to the washroom to freshen up and when I returned, he was there. Okay, let's get to work. I'd realized, not long before arriving, that I'd neglected to bring my face masks. I'd forgotten to put one on last time, and definitely planned to do so this time, but given how busy I'd been all week, I totally forgot to stick them in my bag. I think part of it is that I didn't have to go through the motion of putting my travel toiletry bag in my work bag; it stayed there the whole week. Had I done that, I likely would have remembered. Oh well. I'm no worse for wear, but I was concerned because there's definitely illness going around, and my dad's had a bad cough all week, so anything I can do to stay healthy, I will.
It really only ended up being me, Harold, and Amaryllis. Mrs. Paroo was there, but she was quickly taken away by Harold's daughter, the soon-to-be-ex-band manager. It was made official at the last band rehearsal that Mrs. Paroo is taking over that position, and the daughter wanted to go over a few things, knowing she'd be there tonight. Good; that means she'll get a key to the building and can come over whenever she wants. As it is, she brought a laundry basket with her to take a bunch of songs home to get them catalogued. The stacks are so high on her table that it's hard to know what's going on. I'd even forgotten the system we'd worked out last week and put the music I'd gone through in the wrong place, oops. This week, I found a stack of music with bass saxes and calliopes. Like, more than one song had those parts! Very unusual. I've been told that my great-grandfather played the bass sax, and I remember telling my grandfather (the son-in-law) that it's called a *baritone* saxophone, not a bass saxophone. Oh, was I corrected, and told that it was a huge instrument. I've still never seen one in person, but yeah, and I have found a picture of my great-grandfather with an alto sax, so I do know that sax was his horn. It makes me wonder, as I type this up, if he ever played any of the songs we're coming across. Also, there are random pieces of paper in these scores. Many of them are programs from the community band the music's former owner played with, but occasionally it's something else. We found a flier for the guy's retirement party back in like 1982. It had his picture on it. I propped it up against the marching music on the table I'm working at, just so we can be reminded of how this all came about. We're making some progress, but it's still slow-going. We only have a few more piles of full-size music left, but they're tall, and we probably won't be through it before February, given that we'll likely take a break from this in December. After that, the plan is to sort through all the hundreds of marching folders to sort by composer, and then do the same thing--make sure all the music is there. This will take ages, and we haven't had a full complement of workers yet this year. Oh well. It's not for everyone. But at least some people are working on it.