Coffee walk and talk
I did something after work on Friday that I haven't done in three and a half years: I hung out with Dr. K. It was something that came up at the end of Fancy Band's season but nothing came of it, then the thought popped up again recently and I went, okay, what do your Mondays and Fridays look like for the next couple weeks? He let me know last Friday should work, and there we go. We've normally gone for coffee somewhere in the vicinity, and I saw the weather was supposed to be nice, so I asked if he wouldn't mind hanging around the Riverwalk. He said sure and named Sparrow Coffee, which is part of the block where the Hotel Indigo is. I told him I should be able to make it there by 5:30.
It was probably 5:20 when I made my way to the city hall parking lot; that's been my go-to spot when I've gone to Empire to watch the D-III football championship games, so I'm somewhat familiar with it. I know Dr. K's car and he passed me going in the opposite direction, so at least I knew he was nearby. I then saw him go around the block and was thinking, dude, just pull in here! I'm not sure if he saw me walking, but he did eventually pull into the lot and was about 5 minutes behind me.
He was kind enough to pay for my smoothie, which had spinach in it and was very green. (I got the Shire, which is made with pear, orange, spinach, ginger, hemp hearts, honey, and oat milk. I was hoping to avoid anything with caffeine.) He did get coffee this time, and once our beverages were ready, he asked if I wanted to sit inside or outside. No, really, I wanted to hang out on the Riverwalk. It's just across the street, so we made our way over there, and almost immediately there's this older couple and he says, do I know you? Are you the so-and-sos? And they ended up being the parents of a former student of his, who were thrown off by his casual attire since they're used to seeing him in, like, a suit. (For the record, he was dressed pretty much exactly how I was expecting--t-shirt, shorts, and gym shoes. I've seen him in his running around clothes before.) We talked for a good 5 minutes, I'd say, before they and their little dog took their leave and we started walking west. I had just mentioned how I like that we could walk under the roadway bridge to avoid the traffic when we looked and went, that's all mud under there, isn't it? Rats. So we did have to go up to street level to cross over, and we ended up in this little area by the carillon with a statue of two prominent residents and a couple benches. One faced west and was too sunny, so we ended up on the east-facing bench, which was completely surrounded by foliage, to the point where we sort of had to sit at the front of the bench. Toward the end he said his back was hurting and he leaned back, and then the leaves were resting on his head. It looked kind of amusing.
It was really nice to catch up with him. I may see him on a regular basis now during the school year, but we don't get a chance to really talk, especially not in depth. A lot has happened since we last got together, and while we didn't go into all that, we certainly shared some stories. I updated him on some of Regular Band's happenings, like the infamous guitar solo and how we have a new assistant director on tap. I found out he'd once gone to San Antonio in July, like I had, and he was surprised to find out that Regular Band had performed at the summer conference down there. I told him how AD1 is originally from Texas and that was our in. Turns out he knows AD1 as they've both judged contests together. There was some talk about Fancy Band and some of the people who aren't coming back, including a couple former students of his that he personally called. One completely admitted to not really focusing on the audition as he has a lot of important life stuff coming up, and that person seems pretty easy-going so he took the news well. The other, a girl I didn't really know, did not take it well from what Dr. K said. That particular audition was really hard and required advanced technique that they didn't really show, and it's a piece we're doing for the first cycle. Oh well. The section they're in did get new, strong players so they should be fine. I also had noticed a particular tuba player was not back and was stunned to find out he'd actually left the band halfway through last year. Holy crap, I didn't even notice! Dr. K said he just stopped showing up. There was no notification, either, and the section leader had to tell him after the third absence that the guy was out. On the plus side, we were low on percussionists but have now had a couple of really strong additions, so Dr. K is feeling pretty good about the roster. The one disappointment he mentioned was that he'd gotten this amazing audition, like the best one he'd ever heard for this band...and then the guy had to come back and say, I got into Juilliard, I have to turn you down. Dr. K was only bummed for himself; it was basically a "well, duh!" sort of thing! Clearly the guy was that good. I think he also asked Dr. K if he could use his Fancy Band audition recordings to submit over there and Dr. K said that was fine. Perhaps he'll be back, and Dr. K said he was welcome any time. Man, I'd love to hear that guy play.
We had a funny moment as we were finishing up. He said he had to use the bathroom, and we spotted one as we were walking back.
Me: I should go [to the bathroom] too, since I'm running to Target after. My parents' anniversary is Sunday and I need to get them a card.
Dr. K: *face falls, look of panic appears* Oh crap, my parents' anniversary was the 18th!
(...you're welcome?)
This happens as we're walking into the little vestibule where the bathrooms are, on the backside of what had been the little café by the carillon. (I think it's the boat rental house now. We didn't walk around the front.) He's talking to me and facing me with his hand on the door, pushing as he's about to go in, not realizing...
Me: Uh, that's the ladies' room, unless there's something you want to tell me.
Dr. K: Nope! *heads to other door*
All in all, we probably had about an hour and a half of chatting about things, and when we made our way back to the parking lot, we couldn't really linger; the lower level is under construction and blocked off, and there were multiple cars circling the upper lot waiting to pounce on a freshly opened space. I'd parked on the complete opposite end from him (and got to wave as he drove past me right as I reached my car) and almost didn't have room to pull out--another car had spotted me and was waiting for me to leave, but was kind of blocking my ability to go. I made it, though, and did my Target run, and all was well.
Laura had come up in conversation, particularly a driving misadventure in north Milwaukee, so I texted her for a bit after I got home (plus she'd also texted me earlier in the day so I needed to reply anyway). We'd finished our conversation and I left my room for a bit. I got back around 11:30 and saw there was another text. Wait, I thought she went to bed. It was from Dr. K, a few minutes earlier, and against my better judgment I replied, so then we texted for probably 20 minutes. I was exhausted and told him, whatever coffee you got this time, don't get it again. He was like, I KNOW! I'm wide awake! But when it was just after midnight I told him I was going to bed and he said sorry, I'll let you sleep, but I had fun and thanks for hanging out. I had fun too. I'm glad we got to do that. It had been too long.
It was probably 5:20 when I made my way to the city hall parking lot; that's been my go-to spot when I've gone to Empire to watch the D-III football championship games, so I'm somewhat familiar with it. I know Dr. K's car and he passed me going in the opposite direction, so at least I knew he was nearby. I then saw him go around the block and was thinking, dude, just pull in here! I'm not sure if he saw me walking, but he did eventually pull into the lot and was about 5 minutes behind me.
He was kind enough to pay for my smoothie, which had spinach in it and was very green. (I got the Shire, which is made with pear, orange, spinach, ginger, hemp hearts, honey, and oat milk. I was hoping to avoid anything with caffeine.) He did get coffee this time, and once our beverages were ready, he asked if I wanted to sit inside or outside. No, really, I wanted to hang out on the Riverwalk. It's just across the street, so we made our way over there, and almost immediately there's this older couple and he says, do I know you? Are you the so-and-sos? And they ended up being the parents of a former student of his, who were thrown off by his casual attire since they're used to seeing him in, like, a suit. (For the record, he was dressed pretty much exactly how I was expecting--t-shirt, shorts, and gym shoes. I've seen him in his running around clothes before.) We talked for a good 5 minutes, I'd say, before they and their little dog took their leave and we started walking west. I had just mentioned how I like that we could walk under the roadway bridge to avoid the traffic when we looked and went, that's all mud under there, isn't it? Rats. So we did have to go up to street level to cross over, and we ended up in this little area by the carillon with a statue of two prominent residents and a couple benches. One faced west and was too sunny, so we ended up on the east-facing bench, which was completely surrounded by foliage, to the point where we sort of had to sit at the front of the bench. Toward the end he said his back was hurting and he leaned back, and then the leaves were resting on his head. It looked kind of amusing.
It was really nice to catch up with him. I may see him on a regular basis now during the school year, but we don't get a chance to really talk, especially not in depth. A lot has happened since we last got together, and while we didn't go into all that, we certainly shared some stories. I updated him on some of Regular Band's happenings, like the infamous guitar solo and how we have a new assistant director on tap. I found out he'd once gone to San Antonio in July, like I had, and he was surprised to find out that Regular Band had performed at the summer conference down there. I told him how AD1 is originally from Texas and that was our in. Turns out he knows AD1 as they've both judged contests together. There was some talk about Fancy Band and some of the people who aren't coming back, including a couple former students of his that he personally called. One completely admitted to not really focusing on the audition as he has a lot of important life stuff coming up, and that person seems pretty easy-going so he took the news well. The other, a girl I didn't really know, did not take it well from what Dr. K said. That particular audition was really hard and required advanced technique that they didn't really show, and it's a piece we're doing for the first cycle. Oh well. The section they're in did get new, strong players so they should be fine. I also had noticed a particular tuba player was not back and was stunned to find out he'd actually left the band halfway through last year. Holy crap, I didn't even notice! Dr. K said he just stopped showing up. There was no notification, either, and the section leader had to tell him after the third absence that the guy was out. On the plus side, we were low on percussionists but have now had a couple of really strong additions, so Dr. K is feeling pretty good about the roster. The one disappointment he mentioned was that he'd gotten this amazing audition, like the best one he'd ever heard for this band...and then the guy had to come back and say, I got into Juilliard, I have to turn you down. Dr. K was only bummed for himself; it was basically a "well, duh!" sort of thing! Clearly the guy was that good. I think he also asked Dr. K if he could use his Fancy Band audition recordings to submit over there and Dr. K said that was fine. Perhaps he'll be back, and Dr. K said he was welcome any time. Man, I'd love to hear that guy play.
We had a funny moment as we were finishing up. He said he had to use the bathroom, and we spotted one as we were walking back.
Me: I should go [to the bathroom] too, since I'm running to Target after. My parents' anniversary is Sunday and I need to get them a card.
Dr. K: *face falls, look of panic appears* Oh crap, my parents' anniversary was the 18th!
(...you're welcome?)
This happens as we're walking into the little vestibule where the bathrooms are, on the backside of what had been the little café by the carillon. (I think it's the boat rental house now. We didn't walk around the front.) He's talking to me and facing me with his hand on the door, pushing as he's about to go in, not realizing...
Me: Uh, that's the ladies' room, unless there's something you want to tell me.
Dr. K: Nope! *heads to other door*
All in all, we probably had about an hour and a half of chatting about things, and when we made our way back to the parking lot, we couldn't really linger; the lower level is under construction and blocked off, and there were multiple cars circling the upper lot waiting to pounce on a freshly opened space. I'd parked on the complete opposite end from him (and got to wave as he drove past me right as I reached my car) and almost didn't have room to pull out--another car had spotted me and was waiting for me to leave, but was kind of blocking my ability to go. I made it, though, and did my Target run, and all was well.
Laura had come up in conversation, particularly a driving misadventure in north Milwaukee, so I texted her for a bit after I got home (plus she'd also texted me earlier in the day so I needed to reply anyway). We'd finished our conversation and I left my room for a bit. I got back around 11:30 and saw there was another text. Wait, I thought she went to bed. It was from Dr. K, a few minutes earlier, and against my better judgment I replied, so then we texted for probably 20 minutes. I was exhausted and told him, whatever coffee you got this time, don't get it again. He was like, I KNOW! I'm wide awake! But when it was just after midnight I told him I was going to bed and he said sorry, I'll let you sleep, but I had fun and thanks for hanging out. I had fun too. I'm glad we got to do that. It had been too long.