My Fair Lady - Boise ID
Monday didn't feel like a Monday...heck, I don't know what day it is right now.
We were scheduled for two rehearsal blocks in the evening again.
I got up around 7 to do a load of laundry and eat breakfast, then decided to cook some Meati "steaks" that I'd gotten from Whole Paycheck. These are made using "mushroom root", or mycelium. The type used here, specifically, is the same type used to make fermented things like sake and miso paste. It's grown in a lab, and does not produce mushrooms (many types of mycelium don't.) I won't go deep into it but if you want to learn more CLICK HERE.
Anyway, here are the mycelium steaks uncooked:
And after cooking on the stove in a pan per instructions:
Looks pretty good, right? Although they were horribly underseasoned (I only have salt and pepper currently) the flavor was actually not bad, similar to meat with that slightly bitter "charred" aftertaste. I was especially impressed with the texture, which is chewy and slightly stringy, but tender, much like a cut of beef.
If I were to make these in the future, I'd treat them more like extra-firm tofu; that is, I'd press a lot of the liquid out before cooking, and I'd marinate them or season them much more heavily. Other than that, though, I have to say these are quite good. They're low in fat, have no cholesterol, same protein content as meat (and it's a complete protein too), and with a significant amount of fiber. Only seven ingredients so not overly processed, and no artificial ingredients. Yeah, I'd eat these again for sure. They have a "chick'n" version also that I'm interested to try!
After cleaning up and all that I had Quality Computer Time and packed myself dinner and got to the theatre for rehearsal.
We did a full run-through, which shockingly went well enough that we only stopped once or twice.
Partway through our wonderful French hornist had to step out due to a medical issue, which if you've been following my life journey here you know is MASSIVELY triggering for me as it's one of my greatest fears and also something I've had to deal with personally while on multiple tours. The primary examples of this are on the circus, where our trumpet player had cancer and we had 18 different subs to cover for him while he received treatment, plus he was standing next to me in agonizing pain for hours and hours over the course of a year, and then he passed away anyway; and more recently, my dad's death on the same day as my boyfriend's kidney stone surgery during Tootsie rehearsals.
And here we are not even in dress rehearsal yet and already we have a lead actor whose relative passed unexpectedly a few days ago, and a musician with a potentially ongoing medical condition sitting next to me. I just....
So, rehearsal was as good as it could be when you've only got 8 out of 10 musicians (we're still missing a clarinet also), and from what I've heard our French hornist is OK but opted out of the day's rehearsals to look after herself which she VERY much should do.
The evening rehearsal was a drag, we played very minimally so it was a lot of sitting and staring at our phones and wishing that we were in bed. But that's tech rehearsal for you, I've never had a tech where this didn't happen. Musicians are called and then not used, very commonplace.
Eventually it was over, and I walked home and chatted with our drummer along the way.
While that was happening Jameson texted to say he'd gotten yet another exciting performance opportunity with Disney, and I hope to be able to share more about it in coming days!
After my shower tonight I noticed that my face and neck were very itchy and hive-y.
It could be stress hives, but I think actually it might be the PanOxyl, and perhaps combined with the dry climate here my skin is becoming irritated. I'll stop using it for a while and take an Allegra and hope the hives clear up. The last thing I need is something else to worry about right now.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, because it's a dress rehearsal I keep thinking it's Thursday, that would be the "normal" weekly way of things. But not this week and not this tour. Also, I found out today that this company does not share flight confirmation numbers with touring cast. How the heck do we get our flight points, or change our seats? This makes me annoyed and anxious, as a person who gets motion sick easily.
I took an Allegra and tried to have a relaxing morning...it should have been relaxing as I had nothing to do and nowhere to be, but instead I just felt stressed because of hives and our French horn player and now the flight situation, and opening night and the overnight rehearsal for Disney in a week or so...
Maybe I shouldn't have canceled BetterHelp :/
Anyway, I walked to the theatre early to work out some of the stress and look at the pretty fall foliage in the park.
These white berry bushes are everywhere, they are Common Snowberry and are native here.
Not really good to eat, but they do look lovely and make me think winter thoughts.
On the way back I cut through the grass at some random spot and felt that I was stepping on something weird.
I looked down and it was horse chestnuts. I was under a horse chestnut tree.
Even the people who follow my journey may not remember why this is important to me, so here that is if you want to read about it. And if you don't want to, the long and short is that horse chestnuts are part of a memory that I shared with my mom, who is deceased. And it is significant that at the start of these touring adventures, I somehow manage to come across a horse chestnut tree, no matter what city I'm in. I would have loved to stay under the tree for a while and had a Moment, but I had to get back for rehearsal. I pocketed some horse chestnuts and got back to the theatre.
Rehearsal was whatever, the band didn't do a whole lot, again.
Then back to the hotel for dinner and getting into concert black for the invited dress rehearsal (invited dress = small audience of people who were invited to attend, usually local theatre patrons and school groups and suchlike)
I think that the show went well overall, because we did not stop. But personally, I hope that will be the last show I ever play that badly. I had two major logistics issues with my bluetooth pedal that caused me to drop out for big chunks of music :( One happened when an actor accidentally dropped their top hat into the pit and it landed directly next to my left foot; I was startled and brought my RIGHT foot down directly on the pedal, causing my music to jump ahead five pages and forcing me to stop playing while I literally "back-pedaled." It happened again later on, I pressed the pedal for a split second too long and my part skipped ahead, probably just one page but I freaked out and couldn't find my place again for what felt like a long time (30 seconds or so.) Although none of this would have been noticeable from the audience, I felt deeply embarrassed. Oh, and the one solo line that I have was also not great, I was nervous and it sounded like I was nervous.
I walked back to the hotel feeling frustrated and upset, though my peers kindly told me not to worry about it. Our trumpet player is 22 years old, this is his first tour, and he played perfectly. That makes me feel like, at 39 years old, I am definitely not good enough to do anything at a higher level than this. Like once again, I don't have value in the workplace or in society. It hurts to know that, to have it thrust in my face again and again.
Well, tomorrow is a new day and I'll do my best, qualified or not, because I'm what they've got. If I can get my pedal under control that will at least reduce non-musical errors. And for those wondering, I am using a pedal because most of my page turns take place in the middle of intensive playing and/or during mute changes. With the trombone you generally have to stop playing to pick up a mute, shove it in the bell, then continue playing. I don't have enough hands to turn my page, put in or take out a mute, and play all at the same time. The alternative to the pedal would be to do some arts and crafts with my book (and I may still do that if this continues to be an issue.) But there is no reason why I can't just operate the pedal appropriately.
Oh! Also our French hornist is fine. She took care of herself and is feeling better, and was present for the show.
And our clarinetist arrived from Spain and played the show after 26 hours in the air. Good grief.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, the orchestra was called for 1pm-5pm, but our newly-arrived clarinetist advocated for us by sending a very polite request to management to give us the afternoon off. The request was granted...I was very grateful! I want to do a good job for our first real show. I DON'T want to sit in the pit doing next-to-nothing for most of the afternoon when I could be resting my face and clearing my head in preparation for NOT sucking this time.
I used the time in the most boring way possible, to walk to Albertsons for no reason other than the route to and from was lined with thrift stores :p I popped into each one to look, and didn't find anything. But it was sunny, and nice to window shop and get some fresh air and vitamin D. My hives seem to have magically disappeared, so I do think it was the PanOxyl, which I won't throw out but will use as spot treatment or sparingly as needed.
Anyway, you don't care about that. I had a chill afternoon and felt a lot more focused and calm going into the evening show. Which was a real show, this time. A "soft opening" or "preview show" is what they call this, but still, it's a show.
A gentleman in our Props department made these wood burnings of Eliza's silhouette, with "My Fair Lady" and opening night date on the back. Not sure what I'll do with mine but they are beautiful!
And of course, an opening night program. Look at all the live musicians, yay! (Don't stalk us pls)
This show went MUCH better for me personally, because I took care not to hover my big clumsy foot over my pedal. Not once did I accidentally jump forward in the music. And I didn't miss any mute changes this time either. Still not satisfied with how I play my solo, and am going to actually blame it on the cup mute that I'm using right now, which has a more muddy sound with this trombone than it did on my Williams. I've ordered a different mute to try and if that doesn't help, then there's no one but myself to blame for my crappy playing :p
After the show many people went out to bars, but that's not my scene so I dove under the covers at the hotel.
Jameson had a production show for Jollywood tonight as well, and he was pleased with how it went.
Good shows and good vibes all around!
--------------------------------------------------------------------
On Thursday I plan to have breakfast at Goldy's, a local place that wasn't on my Foodie Finds but that someone recommended and that looks legit. The rest of the day I want to rest and pack, because in the evening we have a show, and then on Friday we have a five-hour bus ride to Salt Lake City!
I don't have big plans here yet other than obviously trying some local foods :)
Also, SLC is a somewhat high-altitude city, so I'll probably be gentle on myself the first day in town.
We were scheduled for two rehearsal blocks in the evening again.
I got up around 7 to do a load of laundry and eat breakfast, then decided to cook some Meati "steaks" that I'd gotten from Whole Paycheck. These are made using "mushroom root", or mycelium. The type used here, specifically, is the same type used to make fermented things like sake and miso paste. It's grown in a lab, and does not produce mushrooms (many types of mycelium don't.) I won't go deep into it but if you want to learn more CLICK HERE.
Anyway, here are the mycelium steaks uncooked:
And after cooking on the stove in a pan per instructions:
Looks pretty good, right? Although they were horribly underseasoned (I only have salt and pepper currently) the flavor was actually not bad, similar to meat with that slightly bitter "charred" aftertaste. I was especially impressed with the texture, which is chewy and slightly stringy, but tender, much like a cut of beef.
If I were to make these in the future, I'd treat them more like extra-firm tofu; that is, I'd press a lot of the liquid out before cooking, and I'd marinate them or season them much more heavily. Other than that, though, I have to say these are quite good. They're low in fat, have no cholesterol, same protein content as meat (and it's a complete protein too), and with a significant amount of fiber. Only seven ingredients so not overly processed, and no artificial ingredients. Yeah, I'd eat these again for sure. They have a "chick'n" version also that I'm interested to try!
After cleaning up and all that I had Quality Computer Time and packed myself dinner and got to the theatre for rehearsal.
We did a full run-through, which shockingly went well enough that we only stopped once or twice.
Partway through our wonderful French hornist had to step out due to a medical issue, which if you've been following my life journey here you know is MASSIVELY triggering for me as it's one of my greatest fears and also something I've had to deal with personally while on multiple tours. The primary examples of this are on the circus, where our trumpet player had cancer and we had 18 different subs to cover for him while he received treatment, plus he was standing next to me in agonizing pain for hours and hours over the course of a year, and then he passed away anyway; and more recently, my dad's death on the same day as my boyfriend's kidney stone surgery during Tootsie rehearsals.
And here we are not even in dress rehearsal yet and already we have a lead actor whose relative passed unexpectedly a few days ago, and a musician with a potentially ongoing medical condition sitting next to me. I just....
So, rehearsal was as good as it could be when you've only got 8 out of 10 musicians (we're still missing a clarinet also), and from what I've heard our French hornist is OK but opted out of the day's rehearsals to look after herself which she VERY much should do.
The evening rehearsal was a drag, we played very minimally so it was a lot of sitting and staring at our phones and wishing that we were in bed. But that's tech rehearsal for you, I've never had a tech where this didn't happen. Musicians are called and then not used, very commonplace.
Eventually it was over, and I walked home and chatted with our drummer along the way.
While that was happening Jameson texted to say he'd gotten yet another exciting performance opportunity with Disney, and I hope to be able to share more about it in coming days!
After my shower tonight I noticed that my face and neck were very itchy and hive-y.
It could be stress hives, but I think actually it might be the PanOxyl, and perhaps combined with the dry climate here my skin is becoming irritated. I'll stop using it for a while and take an Allegra and hope the hives clear up. The last thing I need is something else to worry about right now.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, because it's a dress rehearsal I keep thinking it's Thursday, that would be the "normal" weekly way of things. But not this week and not this tour. Also, I found out today that this company does not share flight confirmation numbers with touring cast. How the heck do we get our flight points, or change our seats? This makes me annoyed and anxious, as a person who gets motion sick easily.
I took an Allegra and tried to have a relaxing morning...it should have been relaxing as I had nothing to do and nowhere to be, but instead I just felt stressed because of hives and our French horn player and now the flight situation, and opening night and the overnight rehearsal for Disney in a week or so...
Maybe I shouldn't have canceled BetterHelp :/
Anyway, I walked to the theatre early to work out some of the stress and look at the pretty fall foliage in the park.
These white berry bushes are everywhere, they are Common Snowberry and are native here.
Not really good to eat, but they do look lovely and make me think winter thoughts.
On the way back I cut through the grass at some random spot and felt that I was stepping on something weird.
I looked down and it was horse chestnuts. I was under a horse chestnut tree.
Even the people who follow my journey may not remember why this is important to me, so here that is if you want to read about it. And if you don't want to, the long and short is that horse chestnuts are part of a memory that I shared with my mom, who is deceased. And it is significant that at the start of these touring adventures, I somehow manage to come across a horse chestnut tree, no matter what city I'm in. I would have loved to stay under the tree for a while and had a Moment, but I had to get back for rehearsal. I pocketed some horse chestnuts and got back to the theatre.
Rehearsal was whatever, the band didn't do a whole lot, again.
Then back to the hotel for dinner and getting into concert black for the invited dress rehearsal (invited dress = small audience of people who were invited to attend, usually local theatre patrons and school groups and suchlike)
I think that the show went well overall, because we did not stop. But personally, I hope that will be the last show I ever play that badly. I had two major logistics issues with my bluetooth pedal that caused me to drop out for big chunks of music :( One happened when an actor accidentally dropped their top hat into the pit and it landed directly next to my left foot; I was startled and brought my RIGHT foot down directly on the pedal, causing my music to jump ahead five pages and forcing me to stop playing while I literally "back-pedaled." It happened again later on, I pressed the pedal for a split second too long and my part skipped ahead, probably just one page but I freaked out and couldn't find my place again for what felt like a long time (30 seconds or so.) Although none of this would have been noticeable from the audience, I felt deeply embarrassed. Oh, and the one solo line that I have was also not great, I was nervous and it sounded like I was nervous.
I walked back to the hotel feeling frustrated and upset, though my peers kindly told me not to worry about it. Our trumpet player is 22 years old, this is his first tour, and he played perfectly. That makes me feel like, at 39 years old, I am definitely not good enough to do anything at a higher level than this. Like once again, I don't have value in the workplace or in society. It hurts to know that, to have it thrust in my face again and again.
Well, tomorrow is a new day and I'll do my best, qualified or not, because I'm what they've got. If I can get my pedal under control that will at least reduce non-musical errors. And for those wondering, I am using a pedal because most of my page turns take place in the middle of intensive playing and/or during mute changes. With the trombone you generally have to stop playing to pick up a mute, shove it in the bell, then continue playing. I don't have enough hands to turn my page, put in or take out a mute, and play all at the same time. The alternative to the pedal would be to do some arts and crafts with my book (and I may still do that if this continues to be an issue.) But there is no reason why I can't just operate the pedal appropriately.
Oh! Also our French hornist is fine. She took care of herself and is feeling better, and was present for the show.
And our clarinetist arrived from Spain and played the show after 26 hours in the air. Good grief.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, the orchestra was called for 1pm-5pm, but our newly-arrived clarinetist advocated for us by sending a very polite request to management to give us the afternoon off. The request was granted...I was very grateful! I want to do a good job for our first real show. I DON'T want to sit in the pit doing next-to-nothing for most of the afternoon when I could be resting my face and clearing my head in preparation for NOT sucking this time.
I used the time in the most boring way possible, to walk to Albertsons for no reason other than the route to and from was lined with thrift stores :p I popped into each one to look, and didn't find anything. But it was sunny, and nice to window shop and get some fresh air and vitamin D. My hives seem to have magically disappeared, so I do think it was the PanOxyl, which I won't throw out but will use as spot treatment or sparingly as needed.
Anyway, you don't care about that. I had a chill afternoon and felt a lot more focused and calm going into the evening show. Which was a real show, this time. A "soft opening" or "preview show" is what they call this, but still, it's a show.
A gentleman in our Props department made these wood burnings of Eliza's silhouette, with "My Fair Lady" and opening night date on the back. Not sure what I'll do with mine but they are beautiful!
And of course, an opening night program. Look at all the live musicians, yay! (Don't stalk us pls)
This show went MUCH better for me personally, because I took care not to hover my big clumsy foot over my pedal. Not once did I accidentally jump forward in the music. And I didn't miss any mute changes this time either. Still not satisfied with how I play my solo, and am going to actually blame it on the cup mute that I'm using right now, which has a more muddy sound with this trombone than it did on my Williams. I've ordered a different mute to try and if that doesn't help, then there's no one but myself to blame for my crappy playing :p
After the show many people went out to bars, but that's not my scene so I dove under the covers at the hotel.
Jameson had a production show for Jollywood tonight as well, and he was pleased with how it went.
Good shows and good vibes all around!
--------------------------------------------------------------------
On Thursday I plan to have breakfast at Goldy's, a local place that wasn't on my Foodie Finds but that someone recommended and that looks legit. The rest of the day I want to rest and pack, because in the evening we have a show, and then on Friday we have a five-hour bus ride to Salt Lake City!
I don't have big plans here yet other than obviously trying some local foods :)
Also, SLC is a somewhat high-altitude city, so I'll probably be gentle on myself the first day in town.