![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
Knoxville, TN 2026 Part 1: Travel Day Karaoke, Bougie Errands. Bagels.
May. 19th, 2026 07:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
taz_39 **Disclaimer** The views and opinions expressed in this post are my own, and do not reflect the views or opinions of my employer.
DO NOT RESHARE ANY PART OF THIS POST WITHOUT PERMISSION. Thank you.
This post covers Monday and Tuesday.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
Previous Visit to Knoxville:
The circus never came to Knoxville, so my first experience with this city was with Tootsie at the very start of 2023.
Tootsie Travel Day: The touring company had booked me a flight out of Orlando essentially ON New Year's Day, PLUS it was a late flight, PLUS they'd scheduled an 11:30am brush-up rehearsal for the following day. Listening to the little voice in my head, I took the buyout and booked my own flight a day early, and paid for an extra night in the company hotel out of pocket. It turned out that nearly all flights were delayed or cancelled that day, probably due to winter storms. Our bass player was also from Orlando and was booked on the exact same travel schedule as me. Through him I got to see how my travel day WOULD have gone: he was stuck in Atlanta all day as our flight got delayed several times and then cancelled, and ended up having to rent a car and drive through the night to try and make it to rehearsal on Tuesday. He did not make it in time for rehearsal. That could have been me too. And this is why I ALWAYS try to listen to the little voice inside my head instead of blindly going with whatever is handed to me. I don't care if people think I'm stupid or weird. Easier is not a synonym for better.
Tootsie (part 1 and part 2):
Ate at Good Golly Tamale, Olibea (sadly no longer exists), Cruze Farms (ice cream), and Potchke (mod-Jewish deli)
Visited Mast General Store, Three Rivers Market, the Sunsphere, historic Old Gray Cemetery, and the Knoxville Art Museum (free!)
--- --- --- --- --- ---
MONDAY
A 4am wake-up for a 5am Uber to the airport. When the Uber pulled up it was glowing from the inside and I shortly discovered why.
Dude had decked out the inside of his car with disco lights, LED phone charging cables that glowed and pulsed in time to the KARAOKE, yes that’s right he had a karaoke rig complete with microphone. When I laughingly declined to sing (I’m not a good singer even when it’s NOT 5am!!) he shrugged and took the mic himself, and sang me a song! He did King of the Road by Roger Miller, if you’re curious.
It was so funny and surreal. I wondered if I was still asleep and dreaming!
Airport was normal, flight 1 was normal and on time. I had a long layover in Detroit and spent the time reading, coughing goop out of my lungs, and wandering looking at everything.
I came across one of these short story dispensers and needed to try it!
I’ve seen these before but haven't had time to try one. I got two nice stories, one a YA short about a kid who goes on a field trip back in time and learns something about her own bravery, the other an adult story about a woman trying to find herself on a hiking trip. They’re just 10-minute reads, but nice little thought-provokers. They’re printed on really nice paper so I was loathe to throw them out; I’ll keep one as a souvenir and leave the other somewhere public where someone else can hopefully read it.
I ran into Michael (Key 3) and Malashia (Assist Stage Mgmt) who were also taking this flight. We had all taken the buyout and booked this flight because none of us trusted the company booking, which was much later and had a very short layover. Our flight was on time AND I was given two packets of Biscoff :) :)
Turns out our mistrust in the company booking was well-placed. Their layover was so tight that they missed their connection, and their rebooked flight did not arrive in Knoxville until 10pm!! Majority of the cast spent the entire day at the airport today. Meanwhile those of us who took the buyout got to check into the hotel, get groceries, and settle in. How oddly similar to my last visit to Knoxville (see top of this post.) Once again it all proves that easier doesn't mean better.
I got to the hotel around 3pm, had a snack and threw a thermometer into the fridge, and Ubered to an AT&T store to upgrade to a new iPhone. It took a lot longer than expected because Apple now has a convoluted security feature where if you can't remember your actual, typed-out password (as opposed to face recognition or pin) you must activate an anti-theft protocol that prevents you from making changes to your phone for one hour. Like most people I rely on face recognition or a pin for all of my Apple devices, so of course I didn't remember my written password and had to wait the hour. But luckily the new phone needed a large update plus I had to eat lunch, and both of those killed the hour nicely. About 90 minutes later I had my new phone and a new case for it. Yay!
Next, an Uber to Whole Paycheck for groceries. My favorite protein bar, Mezcla, is testing new flavors in this market and I was lucky to find them here!! Salted Caramel, Mint Chocolate, and Chocolate Pretzel.
Back to the hotel to unpack, during which I remembered that I had packages at the front desk. My KN95 masks were there but the special card I'd ordered for my sister's 40th birthday was mysteriously missing :( The hotel said it may have been misdelivered and suggested that I ask at surrounding businesses...which I did for a solid hour, wandering around and awkwardly asking if they'd gotten it by accident. No one had it. There is a USPS just a few blocks away so I will see if they can help me find where it was delivered.
Having been up since 4am, I was finally exhausted and went to bed around 11pm.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
TUESDAY (Golden Day)
I woke up VERY late for me, at 9am (which is 8am in the time zone we just came from so actually I guess that's pretty reasonable.)
Would have liked to do fun stuff on this full day off but instead ended up doing many small errands:
I want to note that the appeal of getting a newer Apple Watch is the health features. They are astounding. The newest model can take your temperature, track blood oxygen levels, identify hypertension or sleep apnea, and believe it or not even do an EKG. As someone without health insurance, anything that I can afford that can stand between me and a $$$,$$$ hospital bill, or help doctors to figure out what's going on if I DO end up in a hospital, is worth it. Hence, new watch. And trading in the old one paid for the new watch band, too.
The updating of the watch and subsequent pairing took a very long time so I typed up this post and ate dinner while I waited. When it was done I set up all the neat-o health features. And then I got into bed with a cup of tea and binged anime for the rest of the night.
Have I ever mentioned how glad I am to have never had children!
------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday: Opening day in Knoxville. Might try to send off Kayle's gift and card in the morning.
Thursday: Two-show weekday so no plans.
DO NOT RESHARE ANY PART OF THIS POST WITHOUT PERMISSION. Thank you.
This post covers Monday and Tuesday.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
Previous Visit to Knoxville:
The circus never came to Knoxville, so my first experience with this city was with Tootsie at the very start of 2023.
Tootsie Travel Day: The touring company had booked me a flight out of Orlando essentially ON New Year's Day, PLUS it was a late flight, PLUS they'd scheduled an 11:30am brush-up rehearsal for the following day. Listening to the little voice in my head, I took the buyout and booked my own flight a day early, and paid for an extra night in the company hotel out of pocket. It turned out that nearly all flights were delayed or cancelled that day, probably due to winter storms. Our bass player was also from Orlando and was booked on the exact same travel schedule as me. Through him I got to see how my travel day WOULD have gone: he was stuck in Atlanta all day as our flight got delayed several times and then cancelled, and ended up having to rent a car and drive through the night to try and make it to rehearsal on Tuesday. He did not make it in time for rehearsal. That could have been me too. And this is why I ALWAYS try to listen to the little voice inside my head instead of blindly going with whatever is handed to me. I don't care if people think I'm stupid or weird. Easier is not a synonym for better.
Tootsie (part 1 and part 2):
Ate at Good Golly Tamale, Olibea (sadly no longer exists), Cruze Farms (ice cream), and Potchke (mod-Jewish deli)
Visited Mast General Store, Three Rivers Market, the Sunsphere, historic Old Gray Cemetery, and the Knoxville Art Museum (free!)
--- --- --- --- --- ---
MONDAY
A 4am wake-up for a 5am Uber to the airport. When the Uber pulled up it was glowing from the inside and I shortly discovered why.
Dude had decked out the inside of his car with disco lights, LED phone charging cables that glowed and pulsed in time to the KARAOKE, yes that’s right he had a karaoke rig complete with microphone. When I laughingly declined to sing (I’m not a good singer even when it’s NOT 5am!!) he shrugged and took the mic himself, and sang me a song! He did King of the Road by Roger Miller, if you’re curious.
It was so funny and surreal. I wondered if I was still asleep and dreaming!
Airport was normal, flight 1 was normal and on time. I had a long layover in Detroit and spent the time reading, coughing goop out of my lungs, and wandering looking at everything.
I came across one of these short story dispensers and needed to try it!
I’ve seen these before but haven't had time to try one. I got two nice stories, one a YA short about a kid who goes on a field trip back in time and learns something about her own bravery, the other an adult story about a woman trying to find herself on a hiking trip. They’re just 10-minute reads, but nice little thought-provokers. They’re printed on really nice paper so I was loathe to throw them out; I’ll keep one as a souvenir and leave the other somewhere public where someone else can hopefully read it.
I ran into Michael (Key 3) and Malashia (Assist Stage Mgmt) who were also taking this flight. We had all taken the buyout and booked this flight because none of us trusted the company booking, which was much later and had a very short layover. Our flight was on time AND I was given two packets of Biscoff :) :)
Turns out our mistrust in the company booking was well-placed. Their layover was so tight that they missed their connection, and their rebooked flight did not arrive in Knoxville until 10pm!! Majority of the cast spent the entire day at the airport today. Meanwhile those of us who took the buyout got to check into the hotel, get groceries, and settle in. How oddly similar to my last visit to Knoxville (see top of this post.) Once again it all proves that easier doesn't mean better.
I got to the hotel around 3pm, had a snack and threw a thermometer into the fridge, and Ubered to an AT&T store to upgrade to a new iPhone. It took a lot longer than expected because Apple now has a convoluted security feature where if you can't remember your actual, typed-out password (as opposed to face recognition or pin) you must activate an anti-theft protocol that prevents you from making changes to your phone for one hour. Like most people I rely on face recognition or a pin for all of my Apple devices, so of course I didn't remember my written password and had to wait the hour. But luckily the new phone needed a large update plus I had to eat lunch, and both of those killed the hour nicely. About 90 minutes later I had my new phone and a new case for it. Yay!
Next, an Uber to Whole Paycheck for groceries. My favorite protein bar, Mezcla, is testing new flavors in this market and I was lucky to find them here!! Salted Caramel, Mint Chocolate, and Chocolate Pretzel.
Back to the hotel to unpack, during which I remembered that I had packages at the front desk. My KN95 masks were there but the special card I'd ordered for my sister's 40th birthday was mysteriously missing :( The hotel said it may have been misdelivered and suggested that I ask at surrounding businesses...which I did for a solid hour, wandering around and awkwardly asking if they'd gotten it by accident. No one had it. There is a USPS just a few blocks away so I will see if they can help me find where it was delivered.
Having been up since 4am, I was finally exhausted and went to bed around 11pm.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
TUESDAY (Golden Day)
I woke up VERY late for me, at 9am (which is 8am in the time zone we just came from so actually I guess that's pretty reasonable.)
Would have liked to do fun stuff on this full day off but instead ended up doing many small errands:
- Typing up this post
- Activating the warranty for the new phone case (it has lifetime replacements!)
- Starting the return process for my scratched in-ear faceplates
- Picking up bagels from a local shop called K Brew (French Toast, Blueberry, and Hot Honey!)
- Visiting USPS to see if they could help find my sister's card. They promised to call tomorrow morning.
- Ubering to the mall for a new Apple Watch!
- Trying to find black dress pants at the mall (failed)
- 1-mile walk to Target for coffee and cheap underwear
I want to note that the appeal of getting a newer Apple Watch is the health features. They are astounding. The newest model can take your temperature, track blood oxygen levels, identify hypertension or sleep apnea, and believe it or not even do an EKG. As someone without health insurance, anything that I can afford that can stand between me and a $$$,$$$ hospital bill, or help doctors to figure out what's going on if I DO end up in a hospital, is worth it. Hence, new watch. And trading in the old one paid for the new watch band, too.
The updating of the watch and subsequent pairing took a very long time so I typed up this post and ate dinner while I waited. When it was done I set up all the neat-o health features. And then I got into bed with a cup of tea and binged anime for the rest of the night.
Have I ever mentioned how glad I am to have never had children!
------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday: Opening day in Knoxville. Might try to send off Kayle's gift and card in the morning.
Thursday: Two-show weekday so no plans.
Madison, WI 2026 Part 3: A Cold Dictates My Whole Week
May. 17th, 2026 10:01 pmtaz_39 **Disclaimer**
The views and opinions expressed in this post are my own, and do not reflect the views or opinions of my employer.
DO NOT RESHARE ANY PART OF THIS POST WITHOUT PERMISSION.
Thank you.
This post covers the weekend.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
Backtracking
I just realized that I never reviewed the foods I got at Maruichi in Boston!
--- --- --- --- --- ---
FRIDAY
I woke up slightly before my alarm at 7am. I did not sleep well because this is not allergies, it is a sinus infection and probably an actual cold. I got up and around and texted Jameson's dad to officially cancel on him for coming over and/or hanging out today. I don't want to put either of them in proximity of something that could affect Jameson's mom, and I also would rather rest and try to ride this out in the hopes of feeling better faster.
Canceling plans due to personal illness always makes me feel horribly guilty, like I'm being selfish or doing something wrong. This is probably because I had one parent who absolutely HATED it when I was sick, and would act accordingly...I suppose I shouldn't go into detail, but it's not hard to guess where the guilt comes from. There's your TMI for the morning :/
Anyway, breakfast and blowing my nose a lot. I did some research into sliding deck doors for Jameson and I; ours are original to the house and are very messed up from the vacationers who used to rent the home. Looks like all estimates are in-home so that's a to-do for me for July.
A quick walk to Target because I'd heard the new Koia flavor was out. They're jumping on the Dubai chocolate bandwagon.
I also got some tissues, Flonase, Q-tips, and Clorox wipes. On the way back I stopped at the Asian grocery that Ryu (violin) had told me about, and it WAS nice, but I just don't NEED anything right now. The weather was gorgeous again and how annoying is it to be sick on a beautiful day so you can't fully enjoy it!!
Back at the hotel, lunch and I tried the Dubai chocolate Koia. It's "ok" but the thing about Dubai chocolate is, it's largely a TEXTURE thing. Creamy chocolate paired with rich pistachio and tahini chocolate and crispy, crunchy filo dough. You can't really replicate that in a smooth shake. So it was just "kinda nutty chocolate" flavor. But hey, it's better than that watery strawberry flavor that they recently released.
I had unfortunately a very boring afternoon of just trying to rest and going through a trees' worth of tissues. I ended up going to the theater early and packing my trunk a day early, why not. The evening show was pretty good despite my being full of snot.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
SATURDAY
Had a rough sleep due to a thunderstorm and also the thermostat in my room decided to lose it's mind and blast cold air for no reason, so I had to get up and restart it (and I still don't think it's working properly but whatever we're leaving soon.) That said I did sleep in later than usual and had weird dreams in which Jameson looked like a Backstreet Boy, LMAO
Breakfast and some light packing. I should have worked on Atlanta Foodie Finds but didn't feel like it, instead bought a box of KN95 masks from Amazon and chatted with Jameson, who is going to Fringe today! I hope he has lots of fun :) Meal planning, getting dressed for work, and all of my other boring morning stuff. I've started watching Invincible on Amazon too...anybody here watching that? WOW is it messed up. I'm only 4 episodes in and the level of intrigue is off the charts.
After lunch I walked to the theater early because there's a farmers market in the capitol square and I wanted to see it. My cold-thing is still about the same, so I wore a mask and was mindful. There were lots of nice stalls and it was a lovely day, I enjoyed looking but once again didn't actually need anything. At the theater I got myself and my horns situated and chatted with my bandmates, half of us coughing or blowing our noses. Good times. The afternoon show went well, I thought. My low E's have been coming out!
During the break, a simple dinner of random leftovers in my room, watching anime and typing this post, then back to the theater for the evening show. It was good and we had a great audience...wish that I had interesting experiences or anecdotes to share, but unfortunately for you all, a lot of performing the same show over and over IS the repetition and nothing more. If nothing crazy happens, that's a "good day" at work!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUNDAY
I *think* I slept all right, but the cold-thing has moved into my chest (of course it has!) so now when I breathe out there's a rattle at the end, and it feels like my lungs are fuzzy. I hate this feeling, it makes me think I'm not getting enough air (I totally must be if I can play two big trombones.) Also, it always blows me away (pun intended) that you could chop a leg off, or even a hand, and I'd still have no problem playing the trombone...but a widdle head cold or a wee cracked lip will absolutely DO ME IN and make it insanely difficult to play. Fine Motor Skills And The Little Things That Disrupt Them are wild.
As I'm typing this, I just got back from walking to Gotham bagels for a Travel Bagel (egg.) It was drizzly but normal out. As soon as I got back to the room my phone screamed a tornado warning and sirens started sounding outside! It's not even windy. But people are saying that one touched down about 11 miles south of us. And I just heard a very loud and nasty peal of thunder. My goodness.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
Aaaand we're back. I just spent about 20 minutes eating lunch in a hotel stairwell. I only went down to the 2nd floor figuring I could bound the other two flights to the basement quickly if needed. There was a small window. I munched my cold tofu and bagel and watched the sky briefly darken, a hard rain come down, and it blew past and was over. For us, anyway. I shrugged and took myself back upstairs.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
The cast members who'd been at the theater when the tornado warning sounded had sheltered in place in the basement. The shelter-in-place was lifted right at noon. I walked over and it wasn't even raining any more. Jameson's parents came to this show, and while I didn't see them beforehand Jameson's dad came down to the pit to say hi at intermission. He had a few questions about our tech, and I asked how things were going with the new puppy. He's got some relatives in Knoxville and asked if I'd hook them up with tickets, and I said yes. Tickets are not cheap, but for all the times Jameson's dad has paid for our meals or taken us out, the least I can do is this small favor! I wish we'd had more time to talk, catch up, and most of all hang out, but I can't help getting sick :/
Their seats were only four rows back!
The rest of the show was just fine and it sounded like Jameson's parents had a great time (they called Jameson to tell him about it :) )
Between shows, back to the hotel for a leftovers dinner, requesting tickets for Jameson's dad's relatives, and looking into the possibility of a rental car because we apparently have a golden day on Tuesday!! I didn't know!! I have lots of errands to run but am not totally convinced that the rental car would save money, so ended up passing on that.
The evening show was just fine, although I was frustrated with my own playing. Between my ears popping due to blowing my nose and the mucus in my chest, everything I played felt like an uphill battle. But also by the end of the show I was feeling better than I had, so maybe this is on it's way out. After the show we packed up as usual, and as usual I was the first out of the pit. Wished everyone safe travels and walked back to the hotel, finished packing...and that's it for Madison, Wisconsin.
Usually I have done LOTS in this town, but this time due to being sick I just...didn't.
Sometimes that happens. Example: the last time I was in Vegas I woke up with covid on the 2nd day and didn't see a lick more of the city for the entire stay. In that way I'm grateful to have a lot of "repeat" cities on this tour route. Even if I get sick or something, odds are that I've been here and done things at least once before :) Which is an amazing thing to be able to say.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday: Travel day to Knoxville. If everything's on time and I'm up for it, I'd like to visit a store to see about upgrading my phone. Then groceries and settling in.
Tuesday: Golden Day!! Hoping to hit a Foodie Find and the Natural Science Museum, not sure what else will happen! Also note to self I really wanna call my Aunt just to check in. <3
The views and opinions expressed in this post are my own, and do not reflect the views or opinions of my employer.
DO NOT RESHARE ANY PART OF THIS POST WITHOUT PERMISSION.
Thank you.
This post covers the weekend.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
Backtracking
I just realized that I never reviewed the foods I got at Maruichi in Boston!
- Pear Jasmine Tea: 6/10 It smelled like fresh pears upon opening, but the taste was all floral/jasmine. It was good but personally I thought the floral taste was too strong. Cute bottle tho!
- Rice Cracker Assortment: 8/10 These were really good, 7 flavors and each one was distinct, texture was lovely.
- Mt. Fuji Water: 7/10 It really did have a different “mouthfeel” and that was pretty unique. In the end most people may not care about that though, water is water 😅
- “Mixed Bean Crackers”: 4/10 This was on the discount shelf for a reason lol. Pretty bland, bag contained 90% Japanese-style peanuts, 8% tiny rice crackers, and 2% dried sardines most of which had been pulverized by the heavier peanuts. Oh and there was one wasabi pea 😂
- OldNew Candy: 8/10 Traditional Japanese “konpeito” sugar candy coated in cocoa powder. Delicate and delicious.
- Petit Croissants: 9/10 Very good and fun to eat! They are not the same texture as a real baked croissant, they’re crunchier and chewier, but the flavor was delicious caramelized vanilla and they were addictive!
- Chocolate Nori Snacks: 5/10 These were fine, a low-calorie sweet-and-savory snack…but you could just buy dried nori sheets and eat them with a handful of chocolate chips for the same effect at half the price tbh. Not bad, just something you can easily make yourself at home.
- White Peach Nectar: 10/10 VERY good. So delicious. This was real pure peach juice with just a little lemon added for preservation. I love peaches and this was a total hit for me.
Banana Hi-Chew and Grape Candy were for Jameson so they weren’t reviewed 😛
--- --- --- --- --- ---
FRIDAY
I woke up slightly before my alarm at 7am. I did not sleep well because this is not allergies, it is a sinus infection and probably an actual cold. I got up and around and texted Jameson's dad to officially cancel on him for coming over and/or hanging out today. I don't want to put either of them in proximity of something that could affect Jameson's mom, and I also would rather rest and try to ride this out in the hopes of feeling better faster.
Canceling plans due to personal illness always makes me feel horribly guilty, like I'm being selfish or doing something wrong. This is probably because I had one parent who absolutely HATED it when I was sick, and would act accordingly...I suppose I shouldn't go into detail, but it's not hard to guess where the guilt comes from. There's your TMI for the morning :/
Anyway, breakfast and blowing my nose a lot. I did some research into sliding deck doors for Jameson and I; ours are original to the house and are very messed up from the vacationers who used to rent the home. Looks like all estimates are in-home so that's a to-do for me for July.
A quick walk to Target because I'd heard the new Koia flavor was out. They're jumping on the Dubai chocolate bandwagon.
I also got some tissues, Flonase, Q-tips, and Clorox wipes. On the way back I stopped at the Asian grocery that Ryu (violin) had told me about, and it WAS nice, but I just don't NEED anything right now. The weather was gorgeous again and how annoying is it to be sick on a beautiful day so you can't fully enjoy it!!
Back at the hotel, lunch and I tried the Dubai chocolate Koia. It's "ok" but the thing about Dubai chocolate is, it's largely a TEXTURE thing. Creamy chocolate paired with rich pistachio and tahini chocolate and crispy, crunchy filo dough. You can't really replicate that in a smooth shake. So it was just "kinda nutty chocolate" flavor. But hey, it's better than that watery strawberry flavor that they recently released.
I had unfortunately a very boring afternoon of just trying to rest and going through a trees' worth of tissues. I ended up going to the theater early and packing my trunk a day early, why not. The evening show was pretty good despite my being full of snot.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
SATURDAY
Had a rough sleep due to a thunderstorm and also the thermostat in my room decided to lose it's mind and blast cold air for no reason, so I had to get up and restart it (and I still don't think it's working properly but whatever we're leaving soon.) That said I did sleep in later than usual and had weird dreams in which Jameson looked like a Backstreet Boy, LMAO
Breakfast and some light packing. I should have worked on Atlanta Foodie Finds but didn't feel like it, instead bought a box of KN95 masks from Amazon and chatted with Jameson, who is going to Fringe today! I hope he has lots of fun :) Meal planning, getting dressed for work, and all of my other boring morning stuff. I've started watching Invincible on Amazon too...anybody here watching that? WOW is it messed up. I'm only 4 episodes in and the level of intrigue is off the charts.
After lunch I walked to the theater early because there's a farmers market in the capitol square and I wanted to see it. My cold-thing is still about the same, so I wore a mask and was mindful. There were lots of nice stalls and it was a lovely day, I enjoyed looking but once again didn't actually need anything. At the theater I got myself and my horns situated and chatted with my bandmates, half of us coughing or blowing our noses. Good times. The afternoon show went well, I thought. My low E's have been coming out!
During the break, a simple dinner of random leftovers in my room, watching anime and typing this post, then back to the theater for the evening show. It was good and we had a great audience...wish that I had interesting experiences or anecdotes to share, but unfortunately for you all, a lot of performing the same show over and over IS the repetition and nothing more. If nothing crazy happens, that's a "good day" at work!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUNDAY
I *think* I slept all right, but the cold-thing has moved into my chest (of course it has!) so now when I breathe out there's a rattle at the end, and it feels like my lungs are fuzzy. I hate this feeling, it makes me think I'm not getting enough air (I totally must be if I can play two big trombones.) Also, it always blows me away (pun intended) that you could chop a leg off, or even a hand, and I'd still have no problem playing the trombone...but a widdle head cold or a wee cracked lip will absolutely DO ME IN and make it insanely difficult to play. Fine Motor Skills And The Little Things That Disrupt Them are wild.
As I'm typing this, I just got back from walking to Gotham bagels for a Travel Bagel (egg.) It was drizzly but normal out. As soon as I got back to the room my phone screamed a tornado warning and sirens started sounding outside! It's not even windy. But people are saying that one touched down about 11 miles south of us. And I just heard a very loud and nasty peal of thunder. My goodness.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
Aaaand we're back. I just spent about 20 minutes eating lunch in a hotel stairwell. I only went down to the 2nd floor figuring I could bound the other two flights to the basement quickly if needed. There was a small window. I munched my cold tofu and bagel and watched the sky briefly darken, a hard rain come down, and it blew past and was over. For us, anyway. I shrugged and took myself back upstairs.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
The cast members who'd been at the theater when the tornado warning sounded had sheltered in place in the basement. The shelter-in-place was lifted right at noon. I walked over and it wasn't even raining any more. Jameson's parents came to this show, and while I didn't see them beforehand Jameson's dad came down to the pit to say hi at intermission. He had a few questions about our tech, and I asked how things were going with the new puppy. He's got some relatives in Knoxville and asked if I'd hook them up with tickets, and I said yes. Tickets are not cheap, but for all the times Jameson's dad has paid for our meals or taken us out, the least I can do is this small favor! I wish we'd had more time to talk, catch up, and most of all hang out, but I can't help getting sick :/
Their seats were only four rows back!
The rest of the show was just fine and it sounded like Jameson's parents had a great time (they called Jameson to tell him about it :) )
Between shows, back to the hotel for a leftovers dinner, requesting tickets for Jameson's dad's relatives, and looking into the possibility of a rental car because we apparently have a golden day on Tuesday!! I didn't know!! I have lots of errands to run but am not totally convinced that the rental car would save money, so ended up passing on that.
The evening show was just fine, although I was frustrated with my own playing. Between my ears popping due to blowing my nose and the mucus in my chest, everything I played felt like an uphill battle. But also by the end of the show I was feeling better than I had, so maybe this is on it's way out. After the show we packed up as usual, and as usual I was the first out of the pit. Wished everyone safe travels and walked back to the hotel, finished packing...and that's it for Madison, Wisconsin.
Usually I have done LOTS in this town, but this time due to being sick I just...didn't.
Sometimes that happens. Example: the last time I was in Vegas I woke up with covid on the 2nd day and didn't see a lick more of the city for the entire stay. In that way I'm grateful to have a lot of "repeat" cities on this tour route. Even if I get sick or something, odds are that I've been here and done things at least once before :) Which is an amazing thing to be able to say.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday: Travel day to Knoxville. If everything's on time and I'm up for it, I'd like to visit a store to see about upgrading my phone. Then groceries and settling in.
Tuesday: Golden Day!! Hoping to hit a Foodie Find and the Natural Science Museum, not sure what else will happen! Also note to self I really wanna call my Aunt just to check in. <3
KPop Demon Hunters, more Elis & John
May. 16th, 2026 03:19 pmhamsterwomanOh right! I completely forgot to post about the FIRST thing I consumed specifically for Hugo homework, which was actually KPop Demon Hunters. I was home alone when the Hugo shortlist came out, and it’s on Netflix, so that seemed like a good way to pass the time. I feel like all my friends have watched KPop Demon Hunters already, but I’ve been low-key avoiding it because, a) I have no interest in KPop and b) anime is basically one of my anti-genres/mediums, where even if it’s about something I like, the anime style makes it more difficult for me to enjoy the story (I know this isn’t anime per se, but it was indeed too anime for me, as friends who know my anime opinions warned me), and that seemed like a bad combination to subject myself to for no reason. But Hugo homework is a reason, and I’ve subjected myself to way worse for its sake.
Honestly, I enjoyed it more than I expected, although to be fair my expectations were quite low. ( More,with spoilers )
I’m sure there were deeper things and also inside jokes I was missing, but I enjoyed it on my level anyway. I haven’t (yet, but I’m not sure if I will, either) watched any of the other nominees, so I have nothing to compare it to, but on its own merits, I wouldn’t be mad if it won.
*
Back to Elis & John. And in my “Retro Oner” journey, I’m working through the Radio X episodes ( May - December 2016 )
And, outside the cut for easy finding: Radio X episode 117, 9:56 – Elis singing in Welsh, which I don’t think I’ve ever heard before, and it is incredibly charming! Not just the singing, but the tiny stumble as he translates it into English for them, including having to switch the noun-adjective order. I mean, I love hearing Elis sing and I love hearing Elis speak Welsh, so it figures I’d love it when he was doing both at once, so no surprise there, but I just really, really love it, out of all proportion to the length of the clip and inanity of the song. (I’ve listened to it so many times XD)
Honestly, I enjoyed it more than I expected, although to be fair my expectations were quite low. ( More,with spoilers )
I’m sure there were deeper things and also inside jokes I was missing, but I enjoyed it on my level anyway. I haven’t (yet, but I’m not sure if I will, either) watched any of the other nominees, so I have nothing to compare it to, but on its own merits, I wouldn’t be mad if it won.
*
Back to Elis & John. And in my “Retro Oner” journey, I’m working through the Radio X episodes ( May - December 2016 )
And, outside the cut for easy finding: Radio X episode 117, 9:56 – Elis singing in Welsh, which I don’t think I’ve ever heard before, and it is incredibly charming! Not just the singing, but the tiny stumble as he translates it into English for them, including having to switch the noun-adjective order. I mean, I love hearing Elis sing and I love hearing Elis speak Welsh, so it figures I’d love it when he was doing both at once, so no surprise there, but I just really, really love it, out of all proportion to the length of the clip and inanity of the song. (I’ve listened to it so many times XD)
The Friday Five for 15 May 2026
May. 15th, 2026 03:47 pmanais_pf posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
thefridayfive1. How often do you hear live music?
2. What was your favorite live musical performance ever?
3. Do you play an instrument, or sing?
4. Have you ever performed music onstage?
5. Who is your favorite musician?
Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.
If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!
2. What was your favorite live musical performance ever?
3. Do you play an instrument, or sing?
4. Have you ever performed music onstage?
5. Who is your favorite musician?
Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.
If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!
Hugo homework, Taskmaster, Elis & John
May. 14th, 2026 09:49 pmhamsterwomanI have started on the Hugo Homework reading. I'm posting about it real time on the sync read post, but I also plan to post in my usual format, so here's a start:
5. Olivia Waite, Murder by Memory -- this was great! I'm a sucker for sci-fi mysteries, especially ones where the sci-fi and the mystery are integrally intertwined, and that's definitely the case here -- the motive, the method, the investigations, even the type of crime are all neatly science fictional, and I really enjoyed basically learning how mysteries work in this specific universe, which is the great fun of SF mysteries for me. ( SPOILERS including whodunit )
*
Taskmaster annex:
Taskmaster s21e06 -- oh man, I laughed so hard at poor Joanna XD ( Spoilers from here )
Taskmaster Oz s5e02 - Anisa is clearly be the person to watch for wardrobe, I liked her dress this time, too. ( Spoilers )
*
There are a lot of new things happening in Elis & John land, and I had better catch up. In the present day, John’s book was published (I haven’t read it yet, because my lovely signed copy is being safely looked after bycafemassolit, but I have been following all of the press I could, interviews and podcast rounds and so on), How Do You Cope came back, John ran a marathon, and Elis & John & Dave started a Patreon with some exclusive content (much but not all of it marathon-adjacent). And in the past, I have just passed May 2016, which means I am not caught up on 10 years of the show. There are still ~2 years to go, so it’s not quite the finish line yet – but it seemed like a good place to pause. Looking at just how much stuff there is, I think this is going to have to be two different posts, oops.
( Patreon content )
( John’s book-related interviews and podcast appearances )
How Do You Cope is back (now also with full visual component on YouTube, which I’ve been alternating based on whatever’s easiest and occasionally going to the visuals to see a particular scene, like Richard Osman teasing John that he’s not very good at this interviewing thing). But actually John IS really good at this interviewing thing. I appreciated the episode with Esther Ghey (mother of murdered trans girl Brianna), but more than anything for John’s ability to articulate pithily what Esther was saying in answer to his questions. I did find the episode with Alison Spittle both fascinating and affecting; she was talking from the perspective of someone who was happy at her larger size but then had to lose a lot of weight with GLP-1s after she nearly died – and it’s a really nuanced and complicated perspective that I haven’t heard anywhere else. The most recent HDYC had Anthony Scaramucci, which, I actually have no strong a priori feelings on him either way, but as a number of folks on the FB group pointed out, he was not engaging with the podcast in the spirit of the podcast, he was just monologuing in response to questions that were only loosely related, but presumably the idea is that this will give HDYC exposure to a whole different audience, which I'm in favor of, because it's a great podcast.
But my favorite, of course, was the first episode of the new series, with ( Richard Osman )
And this is not strictly Elis and/or John but adjacent, but ( Isy Suttie and Lloyd Langford on What Did You Do Yesterday )
**
Present-day BBC 5Live Elis & John, ( March - May 2026 )
5. Olivia Waite, Murder by Memory -- this was great! I'm a sucker for sci-fi mysteries, especially ones where the sci-fi and the mystery are integrally intertwined, and that's definitely the case here -- the motive, the method, the investigations, even the type of crime are all neatly science fictional, and I really enjoyed basically learning how mysteries work in this specific universe, which is the great fun of SF mysteries for me. ( SPOILERS including whodunit )
*
Taskmaster annex:
Taskmaster s21e06 -- oh man, I laughed so hard at poor Joanna XD ( Spoilers from here )
Taskmaster Oz s5e02 - Anisa is clearly be the person to watch for wardrobe, I liked her dress this time, too. ( Spoilers )
*
There are a lot of new things happening in Elis & John land, and I had better catch up. In the present day, John’s book was published (I haven’t read it yet, because my lovely signed copy is being safely looked after by
cafemassolit, but I have been following all of the press I could, interviews and podcast rounds and so on), How Do You Cope came back, John ran a marathon, and Elis & John & Dave started a Patreon with some exclusive content (much but not all of it marathon-adjacent). And in the past, I have just passed May 2016, which means I am not caught up on 10 years of the show. There are still ~2 years to go, so it’s not quite the finish line yet – but it seemed like a good place to pause. Looking at just how much stuff there is, I think this is going to have to be two different posts, oops. ( Patreon content )
( John’s book-related interviews and podcast appearances )
How Do You Cope is back (now also with full visual component on YouTube, which I’ve been alternating based on whatever’s easiest and occasionally going to the visuals to see a particular scene, like Richard Osman teasing John that he’s not very good at this interviewing thing). But actually John IS really good at this interviewing thing. I appreciated the episode with Esther Ghey (mother of murdered trans girl Brianna), but more than anything for John’s ability to articulate pithily what Esther was saying in answer to his questions. I did find the episode with Alison Spittle both fascinating and affecting; she was talking from the perspective of someone who was happy at her larger size but then had to lose a lot of weight with GLP-1s after she nearly died – and it’s a really nuanced and complicated perspective that I haven’t heard anywhere else. The most recent HDYC had Anthony Scaramucci, which, I actually have no strong a priori feelings on him either way, but as a number of folks on the FB group pointed out, he was not engaging with the podcast in the spirit of the podcast, he was just monologuing in response to questions that were only loosely related, but presumably the idea is that this will give HDYC exposure to a whole different audience, which I'm in favor of, because it's a great podcast.
But my favorite, of course, was the first episode of the new series, with ( Richard Osman )
And this is not strictly Elis and/or John but adjacent, but ( Isy Suttie and Lloyd Langford on What Did You Do Yesterday )
**
Present-day BBC 5Live Elis & John, ( March - May 2026 )
Madison, WI 2026 Part 2: JiffyThief, Trombone Bath, Night Market
May. 14th, 2026 10:53 pmtaz_39 **Disclaimer** The views and opinions expressed in this post are my own, and do not reflect the views or opinions of my employer. DO NOT RESHARE ANY PART OF THIS POST WITHOUT PERMISSION. Thank you.
This post covers Wednesday and Thursday.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
WEDNESDAY
Normal boring morning. I did go down to scope out free hotel breakfast, and it's very nice. More peanut butter to steal.
I admit to being a single-serving peanut butter HOARDER. I might have a problem lol.
I can't help that they're free AND the perfect size! Now that I've collected this many I'm gonna squirrel a bunch of them away in my trunk, like I do with other nonperishables (mainly the protein bars that I like.) This may seem kind of silly, but having little stockpiles of favorite foods in the trunk is something that a lot of us do. It comes in handy when we're in a food desert/apartheid city (looking at you Oklahoma City, OK; Fayetteville, AR; Louisville, KY.) If you can't get to a decent grocery in a city then you can break into your personal stash :)
Anyway, morning of working on Atlanta Foodie Finds and chatting with Jameson as he went to PT for his neck/shoulder. Watching anime, picking out a few of the new BATB internal merch items to get, deciding which iPhone I'm jumping to next. Adulting.
In the afternoon I walked to get a haircut and that was nice. From there I went to the theater to wash my trombones. They got pretty dusty during the sit in Boston (confetti cannon dust) plus I usually wash them once a month or so anyway.
I took my time and tried to be thorough, then practiced the bass a little bit afterward to try and clean up some parts I've been frustrated with lately. All of that took about an hour. Walked back to the hotel and had a little rest and a snack, and that was pretty much the day.
The evening show was good. This pit is NOT cold, it is comfortable, and that is a wonderful thing!
-----------------------------------------------------------------
THURSDAY
Woke up partway through the night with my nose stuffed and my throat very dry.
In the morning my throat felt sore and my nose itchy. I haven't mentioned it, but over the course of the past week EVERYONE in the pit has developed something like this, I'm just late to the party. I think that it's either very bad allergies (the pollen index is here is incredibly high right now) and/or a virus or infection brought on by allergies. I'll take an Allegra and see if that helps.
I had a late morning, feeling kind of unmotivated to do anything. For the past two days I've walked past the capitol building, wanting to go inside, but there have been HUGE school groups all over the place. I've never seen such a hubub around the state capitols except in DC. I guess the schools need a free educational activity right now and this is IT. I've been to my favorite co-op already, and Ryu (violin) is insisting that I visit a specific Asian grocery here which I DO want to do, but waking up feeling lousy today was a strong demotivator.
After lunch I ended up walking to a nearby laundromat. I'm doing laundry a day early because Friday is usually when I do it, but this week that's supposed to be my day with Jameson's parents...AND their new puppy! Figured I'd do laundry now so I wouldn't have to worry about it over the weekend. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, sunny and 70 (21.1C.) While my stuff was in the dryer I made myself take a walk outside even though I wasn't feeling great. Got the laundry home and made overnight oats, had a snack and rested with anime and my book (The Way of Kings, if I hadn't mentioned that before) and lots of hydrating.
I was hoping to feel better after the Allegra but things kind of stayed the same with sinus drainage, sore throat, and feeling generally under. So I reluctantly texted Jameson's dad to let him know. Jameson's mom has conditions that make upper respiratory infections extra-dangerous for her; even something small like this could be very bad for her. We decided that it'll be better if I don't come over tomorrow :( :( I'm disappointed but they will still be coming to the show on Sunday at least.
Anyway, I had dinner a bit early because we'd been told there was a "night market" near the theater and I wanted to check it out! (YES I wore a mask and I only passed through very briefly.) I got there only 30 minutes after it opened and it was already packed! These photos are first looking up at the capitol from the bottom of that block, then a picture taken at the foot of the capitol and down that same block after I'd walked up it.
The vendors were everything you'd expect for a famer's market: produce, crafts, baked goods, honey, jerky, teas and coffee, candles, wellness stuff, toys and gadgets, clothing, etc. There were street performers and food trucks, police and government recruiters, and a guy pushing an "anti-Trump merch" cart through it all touting pins and stickers and shirts. As you can see it was a gorgeous day and loads of people were out enjoying the festivities :)
Too soon I had to get to the theater but I really enjoyed looking! It took a lot of self control not to buy anything!
The evening show went well.
I wanna mention that most of the actors and crew are now at the one-year anniversary of starting this tour. Many folks are posting introspective thoughts or fun photos from the first few weeks of this tour. The musicians still have another month to go I think. But it is amazing to see how far we've come already! We are probably close to 400 shows, which is about how many I used to do with the circus as well. Everyone has grown into their roles, and everyone continues to pour their all into this show and make it something truly special for everyone who sees it.
I'll stop now and save some sap for when MY one-year rolls around :p
--------------------------------------------------------------
Friday: Getting up early just in case I magically feel better and can meet Jameson's dad for coffee, but I kinda doubt it. Guessing it'll be a day of trying to rest and get this cold-thing over with. Possibly a walk to that Asian grocery. One evening show.
Saturday: Two shows and no plans, although there's a farmers market downtown on Saturdays so I may see some of that.
Sunday: Jameson's parents are coming to the matinee! Two shows and no plans.
This post covers Wednesday and Thursday.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
WEDNESDAY
Normal boring morning. I did go down to scope out free hotel breakfast, and it's very nice. More peanut butter to steal.
I admit to being a single-serving peanut butter HOARDER. I might have a problem lol.
I can't help that they're free AND the perfect size! Now that I've collected this many I'm gonna squirrel a bunch of them away in my trunk, like I do with other nonperishables (mainly the protein bars that I like.) This may seem kind of silly, but having little stockpiles of favorite foods in the trunk is something that a lot of us do. It comes in handy when we're in a food desert/apartheid city (looking at you Oklahoma City, OK; Fayetteville, AR; Louisville, KY.) If you can't get to a decent grocery in a city then you can break into your personal stash :)
Anyway, morning of working on Atlanta Foodie Finds and chatting with Jameson as he went to PT for his neck/shoulder. Watching anime, picking out a few of the new BATB internal merch items to get, deciding which iPhone I'm jumping to next. Adulting.
In the afternoon I walked to get a haircut and that was nice. From there I went to the theater to wash my trombones. They got pretty dusty during the sit in Boston (confetti cannon dust) plus I usually wash them once a month or so anyway.
I took my time and tried to be thorough, then practiced the bass a little bit afterward to try and clean up some parts I've been frustrated with lately. All of that took about an hour. Walked back to the hotel and had a little rest and a snack, and that was pretty much the day.
The evening show was good. This pit is NOT cold, it is comfortable, and that is a wonderful thing!
-----------------------------------------------------------------
THURSDAY
Woke up partway through the night with my nose stuffed and my throat very dry.
In the morning my throat felt sore and my nose itchy. I haven't mentioned it, but over the course of the past week EVERYONE in the pit has developed something like this, I'm just late to the party. I think that it's either very bad allergies (the pollen index is here is incredibly high right now) and/or a virus or infection brought on by allergies. I'll take an Allegra and see if that helps.
I had a late morning, feeling kind of unmotivated to do anything. For the past two days I've walked past the capitol building, wanting to go inside, but there have been HUGE school groups all over the place. I've never seen such a hubub around the state capitols except in DC. I guess the schools need a free educational activity right now and this is IT. I've been to my favorite co-op already, and Ryu (violin) is insisting that I visit a specific Asian grocery here which I DO want to do, but waking up feeling lousy today was a strong demotivator.
After lunch I ended up walking to a nearby laundromat. I'm doing laundry a day early because Friday is usually when I do it, but this week that's supposed to be my day with Jameson's parents...AND their new puppy! Figured I'd do laundry now so I wouldn't have to worry about it over the weekend. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, sunny and 70 (21.1C.) While my stuff was in the dryer I made myself take a walk outside even though I wasn't feeling great. Got the laundry home and made overnight oats, had a snack and rested with anime and my book (The Way of Kings, if I hadn't mentioned that before) and lots of hydrating.
I was hoping to feel better after the Allegra but things kind of stayed the same with sinus drainage, sore throat, and feeling generally under. So I reluctantly texted Jameson's dad to let him know. Jameson's mom has conditions that make upper respiratory infections extra-dangerous for her; even something small like this could be very bad for her. We decided that it'll be better if I don't come over tomorrow :( :( I'm disappointed but they will still be coming to the show on Sunday at least.
Anyway, I had dinner a bit early because we'd been told there was a "night market" near the theater and I wanted to check it out! (YES I wore a mask and I only passed through very briefly.) I got there only 30 minutes after it opened and it was already packed! These photos are first looking up at the capitol from the bottom of that block, then a picture taken at the foot of the capitol and down that same block after I'd walked up it.
The vendors were everything you'd expect for a famer's market: produce, crafts, baked goods, honey, jerky, teas and coffee, candles, wellness stuff, toys and gadgets, clothing, etc. There were street performers and food trucks, police and government recruiters, and a guy pushing an "anti-Trump merch" cart through it all touting pins and stickers and shirts. As you can see it was a gorgeous day and loads of people were out enjoying the festivities :)
Too soon I had to get to the theater but I really enjoyed looking! It took a lot of self control not to buy anything!
The evening show went well.
I wanna mention that most of the actors and crew are now at the one-year anniversary of starting this tour. Many folks are posting introspective thoughts or fun photos from the first few weeks of this tour. The musicians still have another month to go I think. But it is amazing to see how far we've come already! We are probably close to 400 shows, which is about how many I used to do with the circus as well. Everyone has grown into their roles, and everyone continues to pour their all into this show and make it something truly special for everyone who sees it.
I'll stop now and save some sap for when MY one-year rolls around :p
--------------------------------------------------------------
Friday: Getting up early just in case I magically feel better and can meet Jameson's dad for coffee, but I kinda doubt it. Guessing it'll be a day of trying to rest and get this cold-thing over with. Possibly a walk to that Asian grocery. One evening show.
Saturday: Two shows and no plans, although there's a farmers market downtown on Saturdays so I may see some of that.
Sunday: Jameson's parents are coming to the matinee! Two shows and no plans.
Madison, WI 2026 Part 1: Travel Day, Co-op Treats, Opening Night
May. 12th, 2026 10:51 pmtaz_39 **Disclaimer** The views and opinions expressed in this post are my own, and do not reflect the views or opinions of my employer. DO NOT RESHARE ANY PART OF THIS POST WITHOUT PERMISSION. Thank you.
This post covers Monday and Tuesday.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
Previous Visits to Madison, WI:
Tootsie in June 2023, Part 1 and Part 2: Ate at Madison Sourdough, Chocolate Shoppe (ice cream), Himal Chuli (Nepali place that sadly no longer exists), Lazy Jane's Bakery, Gotham Bagel, and Paul's Pel'meni. Visited Willy Street co-op for the first time, and the weekly downtown farmers market, a local vintage toy shop, Burnie's Rock Shop for some yooperlite, and wandered the lake and downtown in general.
My Fair Lady in November 2023, Part 1 and Part 2: Ate at Little Tibet, Ruyi Hand Pulled Noodles, visited Willy Street co-op and Gotham Bagels again, and a small local Asian grocery. We were here over Thanksgiving and Jameson's parents live here, so I got to enjoy a home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner with them and play with their dogs :)
--- --- --- --- --- ---
MONDAY
I was up between 4-5am, ugh. Coffee and a light breakfast, cramming my stuff into the rental Mustang, and off I went in the predawn.
A large wind farm. It is always difficult to capture how very MANY turbines there are through photos. In person it looks like an endless field of them.
It was a 5-hour drive and I stopped only twice. And about 90 minutes in I saw the clock on the car dashboard set itself back an hour, and realized I'd completely forgotten about the time zone change!! I could have slept for another hour!! DANGIT!!
Ah well, it just meant I wouldn't have to rush. The drive was very nice, much more pleasant than two short flights with a layover would have been imo. Since I was so early I took myself to a mall to kill time. It was a dead mall (as many of them are anymore) so it was depressing, but I got to stretch my legs and window shop.
When it was closer to lunchtime I drove to the nearest Whole Paycheck for my weekly groceries, and from there to the hotel. Hilariously, the crew's sleeper coach pulled up directly in front of me/we arrived exactly at the same time. Since I keep arriving at the same time as crew, maybe I should just request to travel with crew from now on and save us all some trouble! The hotel had my room ready. I dragged the groceries up first and threw them in the fridge, then went back for my luggage.
There was still an hour before the rental car was due back so I drove to my favorite spot in all of Madison: Willy Street co-op! The original store is downtown and I've walked to it before, but they have an airport location that I've never been to. Conveniently that's where I was returning the rental car! So...!
This location is bigger than the downtown location, far newer, and just as good. I've been to this co-op three times now over the past 4 years or so, and every time they have wonderful fresh produce, a great bulk section, lots of local products, and everyone who works there is kind and helpful. Sure it's more expensive than a chain supermarket, but it's 1000% worth it.
And look! My very favorite brand of jerky!!! Made in Oshkosh, WI. It is special because it's modeled after Native American pemmican, so it contains finely chopped dried fruits or veggies. The texture and flavor are unique and delicious. I made sure to grab two of each flavor.
I also found an interesting buckwheat snack, local cold brew coffee, Freshe brand canned tuna, and a few other bits and bobs. Drove to the airport and returned the rental, Ubered back to the hotel. Unpacked and took a shower, then collapsed in bed for a short but helpful nap. When I woke up I made some plans to meet up with Jameson's parents...looks like Friday will be our hang out day, and they'll come to see the show on Sunday! Woooo!
As I'm typing this it's only 6:30pm but to me it feels like 7:30, and I am just wiped. I will have some nice hot tea and a dessert and the rest of the evening will be curling up with my squishy grey pillow and some anime, I think :)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TUESDAY
Unsure when I fell asleep but I think maybe 10:30 (which felt like 11:30 to me.) And I woke up "late" at 7:30, which is 8:30.
Jameson, meanwhile, had an overnight at Disney last night so he was up until 3am, slept until 9:30am, and went to work at 11. Worker bee!
It was raining all morning so I busied myself with working on upcoming Foodie Finds, submitting my rental car receipts to Disney, packing a dinner and snacks, and when there was a break in the rain I walked to Gotham Bagels for my weekly bread. However when I arrived the little shop looked like a hurricane had blown through. A harried-looking but cheerful employee told me that a large school group had just come through and basically bought up all of their bagels! They only had plain ones left. So I took two bags of their bagel chips instead, which are made using their day-olds and feature chips in ALL of their flavors :) I'll share them with the band!
In other news, today I happened to pay off my iPhone. While I could just use it until it dies or Apple bricks it (another year or two at best), doing that would also mean losing any trade-in value on it. I'll probably trade it in soon for a newer model, but working out the shipping might be tricky on tour. Maybe it can wait until the July layoff.
Anyway, lunch and some anime until it was time to scope out the theater. I have played here before and remember it well. A really good modern theater with a nice pit and comfortable backstage.
My spot (and Tim's spot there on the right.) Crew has started consistently building us our own little plexi-boxes.
I don't mind the plexi-box but *might* mind the piece of Sorber across the top? I'm not sure if that was the issue but during sound check and tonight's show I felt like I was playing into a pillow. Previous pits have been like that too, so it could just be the acoustics in this pit. It is a hard thing, adjusting to a new acoustic space every week. By the time we start to feel comfortable it's time to leave. But that's part of the gig, and there also must be some professional benefit to experiencing and adapting to so many different audio environments. Listen to me trying to put a positive spin on it, lol.
In any case, I admit that I was frustrated with my playing tonight. That aside it was a lovely opening audience here in Madison, and so nice to have modern facilities! No offense to the Opera House in Boston or Murat in Indy, it's just that I sure do love me a backstage space built AFTER the 1930s sometimes! Bottle fillers!! Actual dressing rooms where we can rest or get changed!! Enough toilets!! 😍
Other fun things that happened tonight include the whole cast singing happy birthday to THREE cast members who had birthdays this week including our own Connor (Key 1), and finally being offered internal company-logo'd merch! In other words, stuff like the Tootsie shell jacket or My Fair Lady hoodie that I've received on those tours. We do have to pay for them but the price is actually pretty fair for custom-embroidered stuff, especially stuff that you can ONLY get if you're on this tour. And most of it is black (can't IMAGINE why lolol) so it'll be wearable backstage and in the pit. At the very least I plan to pick up a full-zip hoodie.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday: Apparently breakfast at this Hyatt is FREE (who ever heard of a Hyatt with free breakfast, wow!) so I will check that out. Haircut in the afternoon but otherwise no plans. One evening show.
Thursday: No plans as yet, may try to tour the capitol building or go for a walk by the lake or something. One evening show.
This post covers Monday and Tuesday.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
Previous Visits to Madison, WI:
Tootsie in June 2023, Part 1 and Part 2: Ate at Madison Sourdough, Chocolate Shoppe (ice cream), Himal Chuli (Nepali place that sadly no longer exists), Lazy Jane's Bakery, Gotham Bagel, and Paul's Pel'meni. Visited Willy Street co-op for the first time, and the weekly downtown farmers market, a local vintage toy shop, Burnie's Rock Shop for some yooperlite, and wandered the lake and downtown in general.
My Fair Lady in November 2023, Part 1 and Part 2: Ate at Little Tibet, Ruyi Hand Pulled Noodles, visited Willy Street co-op and Gotham Bagels again, and a small local Asian grocery. We were here over Thanksgiving and Jameson's parents live here, so I got to enjoy a home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner with them and play with their dogs :)
--- --- --- --- --- ---
MONDAY
I was up between 4-5am, ugh. Coffee and a light breakfast, cramming my stuff into the rental Mustang, and off I went in the predawn.
A large wind farm. It is always difficult to capture how very MANY turbines there are through photos. In person it looks like an endless field of them.
It was a 5-hour drive and I stopped only twice. And about 90 minutes in I saw the clock on the car dashboard set itself back an hour, and realized I'd completely forgotten about the time zone change!! I could have slept for another hour!! DANGIT!!
Ah well, it just meant I wouldn't have to rush. The drive was very nice, much more pleasant than two short flights with a layover would have been imo. Since I was so early I took myself to a mall to kill time. It was a dead mall (as many of them are anymore) so it was depressing, but I got to stretch my legs and window shop.
When it was closer to lunchtime I drove to the nearest Whole Paycheck for my weekly groceries, and from there to the hotel. Hilariously, the crew's sleeper coach pulled up directly in front of me/we arrived exactly at the same time. Since I keep arriving at the same time as crew, maybe I should just request to travel with crew from now on and save us all some trouble! The hotel had my room ready. I dragged the groceries up first and threw them in the fridge, then went back for my luggage.
There was still an hour before the rental car was due back so I drove to my favorite spot in all of Madison: Willy Street co-op! The original store is downtown and I've walked to it before, but they have an airport location that I've never been to. Conveniently that's where I was returning the rental car! So...!
This location is bigger than the downtown location, far newer, and just as good. I've been to this co-op three times now over the past 4 years or so, and every time they have wonderful fresh produce, a great bulk section, lots of local products, and everyone who works there is kind and helpful. Sure it's more expensive than a chain supermarket, but it's 1000% worth it.
And look! My very favorite brand of jerky!!! Made in Oshkosh, WI. It is special because it's modeled after Native American pemmican, so it contains finely chopped dried fruits or veggies. The texture and flavor are unique and delicious. I made sure to grab two of each flavor.
I also found an interesting buckwheat snack, local cold brew coffee, Freshe brand canned tuna, and a few other bits and bobs. Drove to the airport and returned the rental, Ubered back to the hotel. Unpacked and took a shower, then collapsed in bed for a short but helpful nap. When I woke up I made some plans to meet up with Jameson's parents...looks like Friday will be our hang out day, and they'll come to see the show on Sunday! Woooo!
As I'm typing this it's only 6:30pm but to me it feels like 7:30, and I am just wiped. I will have some nice hot tea and a dessert and the rest of the evening will be curling up with my squishy grey pillow and some anime, I think :)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TUESDAY
Unsure when I fell asleep but I think maybe 10:30 (which felt like 11:30 to me.) And I woke up "late" at 7:30, which is 8:30.
Jameson, meanwhile, had an overnight at Disney last night so he was up until 3am, slept until 9:30am, and went to work at 11. Worker bee!
It was raining all morning so I busied myself with working on upcoming Foodie Finds, submitting my rental car receipts to Disney, packing a dinner and snacks, and when there was a break in the rain I walked to Gotham Bagels for my weekly bread. However when I arrived the little shop looked like a hurricane had blown through. A harried-looking but cheerful employee told me that a large school group had just come through and basically bought up all of their bagels! They only had plain ones left. So I took two bags of their bagel chips instead, which are made using their day-olds and feature chips in ALL of their flavors :) I'll share them with the band!
In other news, today I happened to pay off my iPhone. While I could just use it until it dies or Apple bricks it (another year or two at best), doing that would also mean losing any trade-in value on it. I'll probably trade it in soon for a newer model, but working out the shipping might be tricky on tour. Maybe it can wait until the July layoff.
Anyway, lunch and some anime until it was time to scope out the theater. I have played here before and remember it well. A really good modern theater with a nice pit and comfortable backstage.
My spot (and Tim's spot there on the right.) Crew has started consistently building us our own little plexi-boxes.
I don't mind the plexi-box but *might* mind the piece of Sorber across the top? I'm not sure if that was the issue but during sound check and tonight's show I felt like I was playing into a pillow. Previous pits have been like that too, so it could just be the acoustics in this pit. It is a hard thing, adjusting to a new acoustic space every week. By the time we start to feel comfortable it's time to leave. But that's part of the gig, and there also must be some professional benefit to experiencing and adapting to so many different audio environments. Listen to me trying to put a positive spin on it, lol.
In any case, I admit that I was frustrated with my playing tonight. That aside it was a lovely opening audience here in Madison, and so nice to have modern facilities! No offense to the Opera House in Boston or Murat in Indy, it's just that I sure do love me a backstage space built AFTER the 1930s sometimes! Bottle fillers!! Actual dressing rooms where we can rest or get changed!! Enough toilets!! 😍
Other fun things that happened tonight include the whole cast singing happy birthday to THREE cast members who had birthdays this week including our own Connor (Key 1), and finally being offered internal company-logo'd merch! In other words, stuff like the Tootsie shell jacket or My Fair Lady hoodie that I've received on those tours. We do have to pay for them but the price is actually pretty fair for custom-embroidered stuff, especially stuff that you can ONLY get if you're on this tour. And most of it is black (can't IMAGINE why lolol) so it'll be wearable backstage and in the pit. At the very least I plan to pick up a full-zip hoodie.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday: Apparently breakfast at this Hyatt is FREE (who ever heard of a Hyatt with free breakfast, wow!) so I will check that out. Haircut in the afternoon but otherwise no plans. One evening show.
Thursday: No plans as yet, may try to tour the capitol building or go for a walk by the lake or something. One evening show.
No stuff - but beer?
May. 12th, 2026 10:58 amlnrI've got very little of interest to report :) I had a lovely visit to Wandlebury with Becky and Stu with a picnic lunch and photos of dead people. (Very dead, roughly saxon/viking era archaeology, which is interesting given it's an iron age feature). Since then I've mostly been reading and playing minecraft and whinging about my shoulder. I've asked the GP if there's anything else I can do until I hear back from the waiting list for NHS physio/possible hydro-distension and a GP will get back to me on the 21st. I've contacted the Spire to ask how much it is privately and they said they'd call me yesterday morning but didn't.
But I am going to do things next week! Heading to London on Sunday to see Jess, Paul and Emi in the pub (they're visiting back from the US), and then BEER on Tuesday 19th. If the weather co-operates I'll be at the beer festival all afternoon and possibly into the evening. And the week after next is half term and we're off to Whitby for a week, which will hopefully be lovely
Do come join me for the beer!
Indianapolis, IN 2026 Part 3: The Egyptian Room, In-Ears, Carrot Toast
May. 10th, 2026 10:08 pmtaz_39 **Disclaimer** The views and opinions expressed in this post are my own, and do not reflect the views or opinions of my employer. DO NOT RESHARE ANY PART OF THIS POST WITHOUT PERMISSION. Thank you.
This post covers the weekend.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
Backtracking Part 1:
On Wednesday night I found The Egyptian Room in our theater.
As mentioned in earlier posts, the Murat Theater that we are playing this week was formerly a Shriners shrine. It was built in 1909, and it looks like someone's idea of a mosque or temple on the outside with terra cotta trim and minarets and full-on murals of men riding camels across the desert on the backside. Like many theaters or social centers built between the 1910s and 1930s, the building's architecture and design reflect a fascination with "exotic" destinations that were new and exciting to the Western world, and in particular the "Egyptomania" that swept the Americas during those decades (first due to the romanticism of the Napoleonic campaigns there and later the sensational discovery of King Tut's tomb, so Wiki has told me.)
Anyway, all of this means that this random theater in Indianapolis has an Egyptian Room on the 2nd floor.
Detail of the chandeliers, which feature scarab beetles and lotus flowers and other fun designs. I think that's real confetti stuck in them, too.
On one end of the room was a big stage used for performances or speeches or what have you. This week it houses our Hair department, lots of Disney Magic™, and half-costumed actors having their hair done, meaning I could not photograph it. Instead here is a big decorative pillar on one side of the stage:
On the opposite end of the room is this rather dramatic, tacky, wonderful entryway:
(AAONMS = Ancient [Egyptian] Arabic Order Nobles Mystic Shrine)
A short clip showing the Egyptian-inspired artwork which encircles the entire room, ending with the dramatic-tacky entryway:
And now a small disclaimer. I understand that some folks may see this kind of thing as offensive, racist, cultural appropriation, etc. I hear you and I respect that. Absolutely do whatever you need to do to address that (scroll past, call Indianapolis City Hall, etc.) But when it comes to ME and my opinion on it, I really have none. I'm here to play a show, and as an added bonus I sometimes document the things I see and share them with you. That is all there is to it, my friends :)
In the video I mention being surprised that these in-ears come with "ambient plugs," which I thought was an extra-cost feature. It's basically a small hole drilled into the in-ears so that they don't completely block out ambient noise. You can then use those little clear plugs that I showed in the bag to activate or deactivate that feature. Some people prefer to have audience noise, or need to hear both their mix AND the audio happening around them. I am one such person; typically I'll keep one in-ear in and leave the other out so that I can hear my mix in one ear and my own sound/what's happening around me in the other ear. But that's not how in-ears are meant to be used, so if this feature allows me to keep both ears in while still being able to hear myself/some ambient noise, that would be really cool!
I'm going to try these for the first time on Saturday's two shows. They will probably sound different than my older in-ears so there will be an adjustment, but the sooner I start using them the sooner I can get over the learning curve. Really excited and grateful for this new equipment!!
--- --- --- --- --- ---
FRIDAY
I was up early to do laundry. Glad to get back into a laundry pattern.
Ate breakfast, chatted with Jameson, and sent a support request email to UE about the scratched faceplates. Shared the Madison, WI Foodie Finds with our group. Folded the laundry, ironed my shirts, had a snack. Just Friday Things.
I'm writing this on Saturday and can't recall anything exceptional happening...I didn't go anywhere because it was rainy again. Tried to take a nap, watched anime, and gathered things to put in my trunk a day early. I rode to the theater with Dane (flute) and packed my trunk and warmed up on trombone, and the evening show was just fine.
Oh, I got a response about the UE faceplates! They want me to try the in-ears for at least a week and make sure that they're acceptable, that way if anything else needs to be fixed I can send everything in together. That makes sense to me, so I will test the in-ears through the next city before doing anything else.
And during that conversation, I asked about custom faceplates using your own images (which I know they offer but couldn't find a place to actually order them on the site.) They sent me the info, and it turned out that I could pay for those using my credit card points! In other words, for FREE! So I will be getting another set of faceplates either to replace the scratched ones or in addition to them.
They'll look like this:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SATURDAY
I had a rough night...felt very tense and kept jerking awake, and felt very anxious upon waking up today. There's just NO reason for it. This intense anxiety has been happening actually kind of predictably, the week before and during my period...as well as that weird heartburn or a stomachache, sometimes. I'm wondering if, like
brittdreams has suggested, it could be something to do with hormone changes. I really don't know what to think or what to do about it other than treat it like plain anxiety: ride it out with box breathing, a Pepto, or St. John's Wort as needed.
Anyway, despite the intensity of it I went ahead with my usual morning routine of breakfast and getting ready for the show. It looked lovely outside so I decided to make myself walk to Amelia's bakery about a mile away. It WAS a lovely morning. Because it had rained for most of yesterday, the smell of rain and steaming earth and fresh green plants permeated the air. The sun was warm and bright but the breeze was cool. Lots of birds were singing, and I saw some bunnies and geese too.
I was rewarded for going out by finding one of my very favorite flowers, a musk thistle!! They are so spiky and pretty :)
Amelia's was on a hipster/gentrified street with lots of locally-owned shops. Everything in the small bakery case looked amazing.
I walked back with a roasted carrot and whipped lemon feta danish with hot honey and pistachios. It was AMAZING.
They called it a "toast," but as you can see it's laminated like a croissant, yet it resembles a danish. Whatever you call it, it was delicious. The roasted carrots were sweet and soft and a bit peppery, the lemon feta was tangy and creamy, the hot honey gave everything a sweet heat, and the pistachios were a perfect bit of crunch and nuttiness over it all. The pastry itself was so flaky, light and crispy. I ate half and saved the other half to be an intermission snack.
After a simple and boring lunch I carpooled to the theater with the guys. And today I tried out my new in-ears!! I had tested them briefly with my computer this morning and they seemed to work just fine. Now it was time to use them in the show and see how things would sound in my mix. The answer: VERY different! As I had hoped, these new ones are significantly better than my old Shure 315s. Everything is much clearer and louder in my mix. I can hear EVERYTHING that Ryu (violin) plays, whereas before I could only hear her solo moments. I can finally hear KeyComp Bass!! In my old in-ears I couldn't hear that at all. And with my old in-ears I could hear Keys 1 and 2, but could not tell them apart in the mix, it all sounded like one instrument. Now they are completely distinct (this does matter)
As such I spent the entire first show adjusting my mix while we played. The French horn and keys were brought down nearly by half, which is a lot. Now my mix is a lot more "mid" across the board, with myself, French horn, drums, and KeyComp Bass spiked higher than everything else because those are what's important for me to hear.
I'd hoped that the little "ambient plug" feature on these in-ears would make me feel comfortable with both ears in, but unfortunately because I play a bass instrument, those low frequencies just do not translate well digitally. I can hear myself with both ears in, but what I can't hear is the QUALITY of my sound live in the house unless I take one ear out. Not sure if that makes sense but it's the only way I can think to describe it.
Through all of this I was still SUPER anxious, tense and sweating for no reason. It is wild to me that my body will do this from time to time with seemingly no reason. Between shows we got back to the hotel where I ate dinner and packed a few things, then we had the evening show which went just fine though I very nearly had a panic attack. Luckily if I KNOW it's a panic attack I can head it off using a few tactics in the moment. But it's still uncomfortable, distracting, and I wish it didn't happen.
I get the impression that my posts are too long lately and no one is reading this stuff, and it's just as well since so far my "health scares" are all false alarms. May it stay that I way I suppose, even if it feels awful.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUNDAY
I slept poorly and had weird dreams, but woke up completely calm. The opposite of yesterday. So weird.
Breakfast and typing this post, packing some things, and around 9:30 I walked to Enterprise to pick up a rental car because I'm driving to the next city. They gave me a convertible Mustang! I feel silly driving it but whatever gets me there. Parking in Indy is supposedly free on Sunday so I decided to drive myself to the theater.
The first show was just fine, though it is absolutely freezing in the pit again. I hope the next theater will be a break from that issue as it's very uncomfortable and makes it harder to play. Still, I think it was a good show and we had a nice enthusiastic crowd. After the show I stayed at the theater and mostly hung out in the Egyptian Room because they have cushy booths up there. I saw some members of crew using those to catch a quick nap and decided to try it myself, and wow, I did manage to doze! Ate dinner and read my book, then it was time for our last show in Indy!
It was even colder in the pit, to the point where I almost put my coat on again, but tried to tough it out instead. Partway through the show I got a text from my local friend Josh who was here with his wife and mom for Mother's Day! They came to the pit after the show to say hello. It was great to see him and meet his lovely ladies, and a shame it was on load out night so there was not much time to chat. But he seems to be doing well and I'm grateful he came to our show :)
Drove my fancy Mustang back to the hotel, typed up this post, and mostly finished packing because tomorrow I'd like to hit the road early.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday: Hopefully a nice drive to Madison, WI. If I get there early enough I'll use the car to get groceries, check in, and maybe walk to Willy Street Co-op. It's Connor's (Key 1) birthday so we may have a celebratory drink with him!
Tuesday: Opening day in Madison.
This post covers the weekend.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
Backtracking Part 1:
On Wednesday night I found The Egyptian Room in our theater.
As mentioned in earlier posts, the Murat Theater that we are playing this week was formerly a Shriners shrine. It was built in 1909, and it looks like someone's idea of a mosque or temple on the outside with terra cotta trim and minarets and full-on murals of men riding camels across the desert on the backside. Like many theaters or social centers built between the 1910s and 1930s, the building's architecture and design reflect a fascination with "exotic" destinations that were new and exciting to the Western world, and in particular the "Egyptomania" that swept the Americas during those decades (first due to the romanticism of the Napoleonic campaigns there and later the sensational discovery of King Tut's tomb, so Wiki has told me.)
Anyway, all of this means that this random theater in Indianapolis has an Egyptian Room on the 2nd floor.
Detail of the chandeliers, which feature scarab beetles and lotus flowers and other fun designs. I think that's real confetti stuck in them, too.
On one end of the room was a big stage used for performances or speeches or what have you. This week it houses our Hair department, lots of Disney Magic™, and half-costumed actors having their hair done, meaning I could not photograph it. Instead here is a big decorative pillar on one side of the stage:
On the opposite end of the room is this rather dramatic, tacky, wonderful entryway:
(AAONMS = Ancient [Egyptian] Arabic Order Nobles Mystic Shrine)
A short clip showing the Egyptian-inspired artwork which encircles the entire room, ending with the dramatic-tacky entryway:
And now a small disclaimer. I understand that some folks may see this kind of thing as offensive, racist, cultural appropriation, etc. I hear you and I respect that. Absolutely do whatever you need to do to address that (scroll past, call Indianapolis City Hall, etc.) But when it comes to ME and my opinion on it, I really have none. I'm here to play a show, and as an added bonus I sometimes document the things I see and share them with you. That is all there is to it, my friends :)
--- --- --- --- --- ---
Backtracking part 2:
On Thursday night Michael (Key 3) and I finally received our in-ears! Ours took longer to arrive because we were the only two who took advantage of the color and style customizations that were offered. The in-ears were free, but adding customizations required an out-of-pocket cost which is understandably why the others didn't go for it.
Here are my new in-ears!! The are the UE model 7 Pro with interchangeable face plates.
Detail of the custom face plates: mother-of-pearl, and black sparkle.
Notice that the black sparkle faceplates are unfortunately scratched. I was of course disappointed by this, but will reach out to the company to see if I can get them replaced. The other faceplates are beautiful, and I am far less concerned with cosmetic issues than with whether or not the monitors actually work!
A short clip that I made for Jameson showing how the faceplates can be removed and interchanged.
I'm going to try these for the first time on Saturday's two shows. They will probably sound different than my older in-ears so there will be an adjustment, but the sooner I start using them the sooner I can get over the learning curve. Really excited and grateful for this new equipment!!
--- --- --- --- --- ---
FRIDAY
I was up early to do laundry. Glad to get back into a laundry pattern.
Ate breakfast, chatted with Jameson, and sent a support request email to UE about the scratched faceplates. Shared the Madison, WI Foodie Finds with our group. Folded the laundry, ironed my shirts, had a snack. Just Friday Things.
I'm writing this on Saturday and can't recall anything exceptional happening...I didn't go anywhere because it was rainy again. Tried to take a nap, watched anime, and gathered things to put in my trunk a day early. I rode to the theater with Dane (flute) and packed my trunk and warmed up on trombone, and the evening show was just fine.
Oh, I got a response about the UE faceplates! They want me to try the in-ears for at least a week and make sure that they're acceptable, that way if anything else needs to be fixed I can send everything in together. That makes sense to me, so I will test the in-ears through the next city before doing anything else.
And during that conversation, I asked about custom faceplates using your own images (which I know they offer but couldn't find a place to actually order them on the site.) They sent me the info, and it turned out that I could pay for those using my credit card points! In other words, for FREE! So I will be getting another set of faceplates either to replace the scratched ones or in addition to them.
They'll look like this:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SATURDAY
I had a rough night...felt very tense and kept jerking awake, and felt very anxious upon waking up today. There's just NO reason for it. This intense anxiety has been happening actually kind of predictably, the week before and during my period...as well as that weird heartburn or a stomachache, sometimes. I'm wondering if, like
brittdreams has suggested, it could be something to do with hormone changes. I really don't know what to think or what to do about it other than treat it like plain anxiety: ride it out with box breathing, a Pepto, or St. John's Wort as needed.Anyway, despite the intensity of it I went ahead with my usual morning routine of breakfast and getting ready for the show. It looked lovely outside so I decided to make myself walk to Amelia's bakery about a mile away. It WAS a lovely morning. Because it had rained for most of yesterday, the smell of rain and steaming earth and fresh green plants permeated the air. The sun was warm and bright but the breeze was cool. Lots of birds were singing, and I saw some bunnies and geese too.
I was rewarded for going out by finding one of my very favorite flowers, a musk thistle!! They are so spiky and pretty :)
Amelia's was on a hipster/gentrified street with lots of locally-owned shops. Everything in the small bakery case looked amazing.
I walked back with a roasted carrot and whipped lemon feta danish with hot honey and pistachios. It was AMAZING.
They called it a "toast," but as you can see it's laminated like a croissant, yet it resembles a danish. Whatever you call it, it was delicious. The roasted carrots were sweet and soft and a bit peppery, the lemon feta was tangy and creamy, the hot honey gave everything a sweet heat, and the pistachios were a perfect bit of crunch and nuttiness over it all. The pastry itself was so flaky, light and crispy. I ate half and saved the other half to be an intermission snack.
After a simple and boring lunch I carpooled to the theater with the guys. And today I tried out my new in-ears!! I had tested them briefly with my computer this morning and they seemed to work just fine. Now it was time to use them in the show and see how things would sound in my mix. The answer: VERY different! As I had hoped, these new ones are significantly better than my old Shure 315s. Everything is much clearer and louder in my mix. I can hear EVERYTHING that Ryu (violin) plays, whereas before I could only hear her solo moments. I can finally hear KeyComp Bass!! In my old in-ears I couldn't hear that at all. And with my old in-ears I could hear Keys 1 and 2, but could not tell them apart in the mix, it all sounded like one instrument. Now they are completely distinct (this does matter)
As such I spent the entire first show adjusting my mix while we played. The French horn and keys were brought down nearly by half, which is a lot. Now my mix is a lot more "mid" across the board, with myself, French horn, drums, and KeyComp Bass spiked higher than everything else because those are what's important for me to hear.
I'd hoped that the little "ambient plug" feature on these in-ears would make me feel comfortable with both ears in, but unfortunately because I play a bass instrument, those low frequencies just do not translate well digitally. I can hear myself with both ears in, but what I can't hear is the QUALITY of my sound live in the house unless I take one ear out. Not sure if that makes sense but it's the only way I can think to describe it.
Through all of this I was still SUPER anxious, tense and sweating for no reason. It is wild to me that my body will do this from time to time with seemingly no reason. Between shows we got back to the hotel where I ate dinner and packed a few things, then we had the evening show which went just fine though I very nearly had a panic attack. Luckily if I KNOW it's a panic attack I can head it off using a few tactics in the moment. But it's still uncomfortable, distracting, and I wish it didn't happen.
I get the impression that my posts are too long lately and no one is reading this stuff, and it's just as well since so far my "health scares" are all false alarms. May it stay that I way I suppose, even if it feels awful.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUNDAY
I slept poorly and had weird dreams, but woke up completely calm. The opposite of yesterday. So weird.
Breakfast and typing this post, packing some things, and around 9:30 I walked to Enterprise to pick up a rental car because I'm driving to the next city. They gave me a convertible Mustang! I feel silly driving it but whatever gets me there. Parking in Indy is supposedly free on Sunday so I decided to drive myself to the theater.
The first show was just fine, though it is absolutely freezing in the pit again. I hope the next theater will be a break from that issue as it's very uncomfortable and makes it harder to play. Still, I think it was a good show and we had a nice enthusiastic crowd. After the show I stayed at the theater and mostly hung out in the Egyptian Room because they have cushy booths up there. I saw some members of crew using those to catch a quick nap and decided to try it myself, and wow, I did manage to doze! Ate dinner and read my book, then it was time for our last show in Indy!
It was even colder in the pit, to the point where I almost put my coat on again, but tried to tough it out instead. Partway through the show I got a text from my local friend Josh who was here with his wife and mom for Mother's Day! They came to the pit after the show to say hello. It was great to see him and meet his lovely ladies, and a shame it was on load out night so there was not much time to chat. But he seems to be doing well and I'm grateful he came to our show :)
Drove my fancy Mustang back to the hotel, typed up this post, and mostly finished packing because tomorrow I'd like to hit the road early.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday: Hopefully a nice drive to Madison, WI. If I get there early enough I'll use the car to get groceries, check in, and maybe walk to Willy Street Co-op. It's Connor's (Key 1) birthday so we may have a celebratory drink with him!
Tuesday: Opening day in Madison.
Hugo Homework 2026
May. 9th, 2026 02:33 pmhamsterwomanHugo voting is open (and the voter packets are out (File770 outlines what’s in them), so it’s time for the Hugo Homework post. How much Hugo homework will I personally do this year? Who can say! But it’s more fun as a group project, so please feel free to join in.
I think the way Best Chat did it last year worked quite well, so I’m planning to follow the same model. Except as a way to motivate myself to get to more things, I will alread make sub-headings for the categories I think I may believably get to XD And everyone should feel free to leave comments for additional categories (I just know that I, personally, am not going to play the video games).
I think the way Best Chat did it last year worked quite well, so I’m planning to follow the same model. Except as a way to motivate myself to get to more things, I will alread make sub-headings for the categories I think I may believably get to XD And everyone should feel free to leave comments for additional categories (I just know that I, personally, am not going to play the video games).
The Friday Five for 8 May 2026
May. 8th, 2026 12:49 amanais_pf posting in thefridayfiveThese questions were written by pebbleinalake.
1. What do you consider your current main fandom? (This can include hobbies and collecting. Anything you feel fannish about!)
2. What was your first fandom?
3. Do you have any favorite headcanons or fan theories?
4. Have you ever created fanworks?
5. Are you still active in any old fandoms?
Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.
If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!
pebbleinalake.1. What do you consider your current main fandom? (This can include hobbies and collecting. Anything you feel fannish about!)
2. What was your first fandom?
3. Do you have any favorite headcanons or fan theories?
4. Have you ever created fanworks?
5. Are you still active in any old fandoms?
Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.
If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!
Indianapolis, IN 2026 Part 2: The Zoo!
May. 7th, 2026 11:26 pmtaz_39 **Disclaimer** The views and opinions expressed in this post are my own, and do not reflect the views or opinions of my employer. DO NOT RESHARE ANY PART OF THIS POST WITHOUT PERMISSION. Thank you.
This post covers Wednesday and Thursday.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
WEDNESDAY
Ended up doing virtually nothing today. The weather was better but I wanted to save energy for the zoo tomorrow, and besides that frankly there's not much of "touristy" interest here that I felt the need to go see.
Instead I put in a lot of time on Foodie Finds and got Knoxville entirely done(!), bought my zoo ticket, scoped out the hotel's guest laundry, and received an Amazon package with my new "leak proof" containers, some baru nuts (used to be available through Whole Paycheck but no longer), and the food thermometer. The "leak proof" containers are disappointing because they are leak-resistant at best, and the sizes are smaller than listed as well (the 1.5 cup container is 1.25 at most.) Should have read the reviews more carefully I guess. Still, it's possible that they'll be leak resistant enough that it won't matter, and the slight size difference may not matter either, so I'll give them a fair chance. I just don't like false advertising.
So yes, all of that excitement plus watching anime and eating snacks. After dinner I got dressed for work and walked to the theater. It's only a 30-minute trek and pretty flat. I got there early intentionally to put some stuff back in my trunk and practice my pedal E on the bass using the video that my friend gave me in Boston.
I also visited The Egyptian Room in this theater and took a bunch of photos, but since I'm going to the zoo tomorrow I'll save those photos for the weekend so as to slightly shorten this post.
The evening show was just fine. This pit is deep and well below the stage, so audience reactions are muffled, but there was extended applause and cheering for "Gaston" so that's good!
------------------------------------------------------------------
THURSDAY
Up early to eat breakfast before heading to the zoo!
My tactics with both museums and zoos/aquariums, for avoiding large crowds, are as follows:
So far both of these tricks work swimmingly, and today was no exception. For an entire hour I essentially had the zoo to myself. Plus, the animals know the routine too. A lot of them were out stretching or relaxing while it was still quiet.
I started with the Ocean section. A friendly ray:
Lionfish:
There was a very cool dolphin viewing area underneath their pool.
There were other fish, sharks, seahorses, etc. that I didn't photograph. No jellyfish or urchins here that I saw. There was a ray petting pool but I left them alone knowing they were about to be manhandled by busloads of children. Next, some primates. The chimps were not out yet but I saw orangutans and this small monkey (macaque?):
Next, the Desert area. A variety of tortoises. The giant tortoises were still inside but you could view them through windows.
A meerkat standing guard:
That area led into the reptile enclosure. I love reptiles (and insects but they didn't have those here) and was delighted to see a lot of the snakes moving around and active. Most of the constrictor-types were curled up and not visible, but the venomous ones were moving all around. Beautiful!
This one has cloudy eyes and looked irritated, he'll probably shed his skin soon.
This was a spitting cobra. Beautiful and shiny.
This little viper had iridescence in his scales, but I couldn't capture it with my iPhone. Pretty little one.
This one was moving all around, it took a while to get a good photo because he would not sit still!
And this one was SO CUTE. I don't remember what it was but it was in the Indiana Native Snakes display.
I think this was a black mamba, also very energetic and climbing. Look how LONG! (CLICK HERE to watch)
Next was the elephants, two African elephants were out, one was a juvenile.
I saw three white rhinos:
Zebra:
Tiger:
Adorable sleepy lion who rolled over for me. Cuuuuute
Most special of all was getting to actually see a red panda!!! I have been to several zoos that have them, but they have always been sleeping or hiding. This is the first time I've seen one up and walking around. It was from a distance and I had to zoom in a lot, the photos are not good, but it's the best I could do.
By this point I'd been in the zoo for about two hours, and spent another 30 minutes or so looping back to see if there was anything I'd missed. The zoo is under construction currently (they're removing a coaster that used to be in the middle) so some exhibits (kangaroos, giraffes) were closed, and others (aviaries) were not open until later in the afternoon. I decided not to wait around for the aviaries and called it a day, having seen lots of wonderful animals :) Ubered back to the hotel, did my photo editing, had a snack and typed up this post.
After the snack I had an impromptu visit to a walk-in clinic because I've had stomach-or-chest-pain for like four days. It's really centralized on my stomach but as that's right below the sternum, I'm 42, and better safe than sorry especially without health insurance, I hoofed it over there just to rule out a cardiac issue. They didn't think it had anything to do with heart stuff at all (vitals were totally normal) and gave me a GI cocktail which did provide some relief right away, so it's likely just my same old stress-induced GERD or ulcer again. This flares up badly once or twice a year. Grateful that it's not anything worse than that at the moment.
Carpooled in to the theater with Michael (Key 3) and Dane (Flute), and our new in-ears were waiting for us! They look really cool with the customization options that we added, but this weekend we will find out how they SOUND which is WAY more important. Pictures to come in the next post.
The evening show went well, though I felt a bit distracted (when this happens I wish I were a robot, sometimes!)
------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday: Laundry in the morning (After spending $$$ on laundry in Boston it is SO NICE to be back to $ per load plus doing it myself!!) and no other plans. I will either recoup from Thursday's stomping around, or might go do an explore. One evening show.
Saturday: Two shows but might go get a really delicious-sounding danish from a local place in the morning, we'll see.
Sunday: Picking up a rental car to drive to Madison (they booked us a flight but it's only a 5-hour drive and I like road trips :) ) Two shows.
This post covers Wednesday and Thursday.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
WEDNESDAY
Ended up doing virtually nothing today. The weather was better but I wanted to save energy for the zoo tomorrow, and besides that frankly there's not much of "touristy" interest here that I felt the need to go see.
Instead I put in a lot of time on Foodie Finds and got Knoxville entirely done(!), bought my zoo ticket, scoped out the hotel's guest laundry, and received an Amazon package with my new "leak proof" containers, some baru nuts (used to be available through Whole Paycheck but no longer), and the food thermometer. The "leak proof" containers are disappointing because they are leak-resistant at best, and the sizes are smaller than listed as well (the 1.5 cup container is 1.25 at most.) Should have read the reviews more carefully I guess. Still, it's possible that they'll be leak resistant enough that it won't matter, and the slight size difference may not matter either, so I'll give them a fair chance. I just don't like false advertising.
So yes, all of that excitement plus watching anime and eating snacks. After dinner I got dressed for work and walked to the theater. It's only a 30-minute trek and pretty flat. I got there early intentionally to put some stuff back in my trunk and practice my pedal E on the bass using the video that my friend gave me in Boston.
I also visited The Egyptian Room in this theater and took a bunch of photos, but since I'm going to the zoo tomorrow I'll save those photos for the weekend so as to slightly shorten this post.
The evening show was just fine. This pit is deep and well below the stage, so audience reactions are muffled, but there was extended applause and cheering for "Gaston" so that's good!
------------------------------------------------------------------
THURSDAY
Up early to eat breakfast before heading to the zoo!
My tactics with both museums and zoos/aquariums, for avoiding large crowds, are as follows:
A) Go right when they open. Most school groups arrive 1-2 hours after opening. The animals know this too and will be out enjoying the quiet while they can. GREAT opportunity to see them uninterrupted!
B) Move from top to bottom/work backwards/counterclockwise when possible. That way you’ll be starting at the opposite end from any large groups, and won’t be moving WITH them through the displays.
So far both of these tricks work swimmingly, and today was no exception. For an entire hour I essentially had the zoo to myself. Plus, the animals know the routine too. A lot of them were out stretching or relaxing while it was still quiet.
I started with the Ocean section. A friendly ray:
Lionfish:
There was a very cool dolphin viewing area underneath their pool.
There were other fish, sharks, seahorses, etc. that I didn't photograph. No jellyfish or urchins here that I saw. There was a ray petting pool but I left them alone knowing they were about to be manhandled by busloads of children. Next, some primates. The chimps were not out yet but I saw orangutans and this small monkey (macaque?):
Next, the Desert area. A variety of tortoises. The giant tortoises were still inside but you could view them through windows.
A meerkat standing guard:
That area led into the reptile enclosure. I love reptiles (and insects but they didn't have those here) and was delighted to see a lot of the snakes moving around and active. Most of the constrictor-types were curled up and not visible, but the venomous ones were moving all around. Beautiful!
This one has cloudy eyes and looked irritated, he'll probably shed his skin soon.
This was a spitting cobra. Beautiful and shiny.
This little viper had iridescence in his scales, but I couldn't capture it with my iPhone. Pretty little one.
This one was moving all around, it took a while to get a good photo because he would not sit still!
And this one was SO CUTE. I don't remember what it was but it was in the Indiana Native Snakes display.
I think this was a black mamba, also very energetic and climbing. Look how LONG! (CLICK HERE to watch)
Next was the elephants, two African elephants were out, one was a juvenile.
I saw three white rhinos:
Zebra:
Tiger:
Adorable sleepy lion who rolled over for me. Cuuuuute
Most special of all was getting to actually see a red panda!!! I have been to several zoos that have them, but they have always been sleeping or hiding. This is the first time I've seen one up and walking around. It was from a distance and I had to zoom in a lot, the photos are not good, but it's the best I could do.
By this point I'd been in the zoo for about two hours, and spent another 30 minutes or so looping back to see if there was anything I'd missed. The zoo is under construction currently (they're removing a coaster that used to be in the middle) so some exhibits (kangaroos, giraffes) were closed, and others (aviaries) were not open until later in the afternoon. I decided not to wait around for the aviaries and called it a day, having seen lots of wonderful animals :) Ubered back to the hotel, did my photo editing, had a snack and typed up this post.
After the snack I had an impromptu visit to a walk-in clinic because I've had stomach-or-chest-pain for like four days. It's really centralized on my stomach but as that's right below the sternum, I'm 42, and better safe than sorry especially without health insurance, I hoofed it over there just to rule out a cardiac issue. They didn't think it had anything to do with heart stuff at all (vitals were totally normal) and gave me a GI cocktail which did provide some relief right away, so it's likely just my same old stress-induced GERD or ulcer again. This flares up badly once or twice a year. Grateful that it's not anything worse than that at the moment.
Carpooled in to the theater with Michael (Key 3) and Dane (Flute), and our new in-ears were waiting for us! They look really cool with the customization options that we added, but this weekend we will find out how they SOUND which is WAY more important. Pictures to come in the next post.
The evening show went well, though I felt a bit distracted (when this happens I wish I were a robot, sometimes!)
------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday: Laundry in the morning (After spending $$$ on laundry in Boston it is SO NICE to be back to $ per load plus doing it myself!!) and no other plans. I will either recoup from Thursday's stomping around, or might go do an explore. One evening show.
Saturday: Two shows but might go get a really delicious-sounding danish from a local place in the morning, we'll see.
Sunday: Picking up a rental car to drive to Madison (they booked us a flight but it's only a 5-hour drive and I like road trips :) ) Two shows.