No promises!: January 2007

Thursday, January 25, 2007

What have I done?!

Last night I submitted my online application for admission to UWF in the fall. I received an email from the music department that morning saying that upcoming department admission/scholarship auditions are going to be Feb. 3rd...like in less than two weeks. Yikes! The application itself was sobering...do I have any hobbies? Um...does dieting count? Community service? Um...no. I cleaned the kitchen the past three nights, does that count? My ACT scores are so old I don't think they're valid any longer...I'm hoping the fact that I have an AA will sort of balance that out.

I haven't decided exactly what to play for this yet...the only solo material I have worked up enough to be passable is a Mozart Concerto I played in high school. Not exactly college-level material. Pete says it will be ok, and he's already talked to the Director of Bands (they're in Symphony together) about me. I dunno if that's setting me up for the good kind of extra attention or the bad kind...but I suppose we'll find out. I think I'll look through the Rose book tomorrow at work (I can't find mine to save my life...I know you're surprised) and see if I can find 2 "contrasting" pieces of music to play. I spoke with someone that tried out last April and they called out a couple major and minor scales to play. **choke**

I'll do fine...but that won't stop me from stressing about it until then. Oh, and today? I practiced for a while and found out that one of my cats doesn't like it. Well, she either doesn't like it or REALLY likes it, one. She spent the entire time I played trying like hell to get in my lap. Either by jumping from the floor, climbing from an adjacent chair, headbutting my elbows, or headbutting the bell of my clarinet. It made practicing much more interesting.

posted by Jen @ 8:28 PM 4 comments

Monday, January 22, 2007

Sleep? Who needs sleep?

The handfasting went well Thursday - the acoustics in the room and the flute I borrowed from work (Sonare - I need one!!!!) made me sound amazing. The ceremony itself was lovely, and we all had a great time. On the way home that evening, I complained that I had a dull ache in the back of my head - a weird place for a headache. I took some Tylenol and went about my business.

Friday I got up to get Cam ready for school, and when I bent over to put on my pants I suddenly got so dizzy I nearly fell over. Hmm...odd. I was more cautious when I bent over to tie my shoes, but still got dizzy. Very odd. I took Cam to the bus and then headed home to rest a while and get ready for work. I sat at the table with my puter for a little while, and realized that I really didn't feel well. The longer I sat there, the worse it was...I went to lay down for a while. I woke up about an hour later, realizing that all the little dreams I'd had while I was asleep involved me having a headache. I gingerly opened my eyes, and then my brain exploded. OK, it didn't really explode, but that's certainly what it felt like.

I knocked gingerly on the wall and TJ comes in the room (along with annoyingly bright, beautiful sunshine from the sliding glass door - oooog...). I asked him to bring me some more Tylenol, and I take my drugs and then roll over to try to sleep it off. I woke up a few hours later and realized I could open my eyes without crying...a nice improvement. I turned on my bathroom light so I could start adjusting to light again, and then managed to turn on the overhead. Baby steps, ya know.

I thought that was the end of that godforsaken headache. I was mistaken. It's sort of camped out in the base of my skull, scoffing gleefully at the many medications I've thrown at it. I tried Extra Strength Tylenol, Advil, and Aleeve. Then I thought maybe I'd pulled a muscle or pinched a nerve or something, so I tried a leftover muscle relaxer...nada. Then I just wanted to sleep so I took half a Lortab. I slept, but dreamed of headaches all night.

Last night was the clincher. I went to bed around 11, hoping to fall asleep quickly and stay that way - headache dreams or not. I laid there...and laid there...and laid there. TJ came to bed around midnight. (I apologize to any Aunts or Uncles that read this blog...look away for the next few sentences...) I thought I'd try to encourage sleep by having sex...the sex was good, but I just sort of laid there afterward. TJ fell asleep annoyingly fast, though. Good on ya, mate. So now I get to try to fall asleep while listening to him snore. ...sigh...

Around 1:30 I'm still just laying there, and my bedroom door opens. It's Cam. "I can't sleep." ...sigh again... I told him to bring his sleeping bag in the bedroom and lay down...a decision I came to regret within about 10 minutes. He brings his sleeping bag and his Panda, then lays down. Now...I dunno about your experience with sleeping bags - maybe you've just used them at sleepovers or occasionally for a camping trip. We use sleeping bags a lot. It's a good thing, too, because the ones we have are absurdly expensive. Ultralight sleeping bags for hiking and camping...and for sleeping in your bunk bed, if you ask Cam. Anyway, it's ultralight, but not much different from your average sleeping bag. I was amazed at the amount of noise this thing made, though. It chimed in on the symphony that was my bedroom last night. It went a little something like this:

TJ: lightly snoring....louder....snort! chewchewchewchew...deep breathing
(about 5 minutes of relative silence)
Cam: (moving around in the sleeping bag) (for like 45 seconds)
(about 2 minutes of silence)
I roll over to try to get more comfortable
TJ: lightly snoring...louder...snort! chewchewchew...deep breathing
(few more minutes of silence)
Cam: (wallows around in his sleeping bag again)
me: "Look, Cam, if you can't fall asleep I'm going to send you to your room - you can not sleep in there just as well as you're not sleeping in here."
Cam: "Sorry."
TJ: annoyed grunt, rolls over
(silence)

So imagine this scenario played out for about an hour. The slightest sounds were magnified, causing me to start wide awake (not that I really slept...I was just a little less asleep) I tossed and turned, TJ tossed and turned, and Cam tossed and turned. Only when Cam tossed and turned, something magical happened. All the insulating parts of his sleeping bag were replaced by plastic shopping bags and bubble wrap. Never in my life has a sleeping bag made so much freaking NOISE.

I briefly entertained the thought of sleeping on the couch, but knew the cats would annoy me more than my husband and child were, so I just stuck it out. Cam finally fell asleep around 3 - TJ stopped huffing and puffing when I rolled over around that time, too. All was quiet again. Except for that intermittent scritching noise. A noise I'm sure I wouldn't have ever heard had I not been hyper-aware of every little sound in the room. Here's the internal dialogue:

The hell? Is that a bug? (sit up and freeze)
(nothing...so I lay down)
There it is again!! (sit up and freeze again)
(nothing)
Goddamnitalltohell!!!

I can't bloody well turn the light on, as Rip Van Winkle and Sleeping Beauty have FINALLY passed out, and I might cause myself physical harm if I have to listen to the "Insomniac Symphony" again. I get up and turn on the bathroom light with the door mostly closed and try to track down this tiny little noise... I stand there in the mostly dark, and try to remember not to step on my child. I manage to zero in on the mirror of my dresser...and after busting out a flashlight, I realize that one of the many ID tags I've received from one of the many band competitions I've attended is barely moving in the breeze from the ceiling fan. Every other minute or so it MIGHT tap on the side of the mirror. I stared at it with disgust. It was a laminated name tag, ever so lightly tapping the side of a mirror. Imagine the amount of noise that must have made! I snatched it off the side of the mirror and angrily hurled it at the top of the dresser...making more noise than the tapping ever made, might I add.

I crawled back into bed, waited for TJ to stop grumbling, and sighed. ...aaaahhh....quiet. Then, as if to get in the last word, the damn name tag slips off the dresser onto the floor. FINE - stay there! JUST BE QUIET!!! The last time I looked at the clock it was 4:15. My alarm went off at 5:30. I took Cam to the bus stop and came straight home and crawled back into bed. TJ predictably met me reentry to the covers with another unconscious complaining sigh...at that point I didn't care. Move over, buddy - it's time for you to get up anyway. His alarm went off before I got the covers up, and as soon as he vacated his side of the bed, I rolled over into it.....mmmm, warm. And quiet....aaahhhh....quiet...

I woke up around 10 - not a whole lot of sleep, but it pretty much doubled what I'd managed to get overnight, so I'll take it. On a side note, Clark and his magic fingers worked on that spot in my back/neck...I'm pretty sure I have a few bruises, but for the first time since Thursday, my head doesn't hurt! Woot!

posted by Jen @ 4:38 PM 3 comments

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

A new day

Well, I managed to survive the day yesterday...at the time I wasn't sure it would happen. I would like to clarify a part of my post/rant from yesterday after a conversation with Resa...the part about the Visa gift cards? The thing that astounded me about the situation was that he hands me the cards and says that there's about $20 on one and about $70 on the other...the part I didn't spell out here was that he didn't know which one had how much. Yeah. I told him I could just start charging away at both, but that it might freeze up either or both cards...he might want to call for a balance inquiry. Genius.

So the rest of the day went like clockwork compared to the morning...we had ribs for dinner, which were amazing and apparently contained more fat than my body is used to processing at once. I'll leave the rest of that situation up in the air, as it's impolite to discuss such matters in public places. Ew...

Tomorrow is Red's (Red-headed Jenz's) vow renewal/handfasting. I'm playing flute (briefly) and am getting more an more nervous about it. Of all the instruments I play, flute is the least...impressive. I suck much more at trumpet, but then I don't claim to play trumpet. ...sigh... I'm to play for like 30 seconds, and have agonized over the past weeks trying to find a piece that will express a full musical phrase in that amount of time, and won't make me look any less competent than I do now. I'm not expecting to grow a reputation as a flautist with this experience, I just hope not to lose ground with my reputation as a musician. Such high hopes... Anyway, I've decided what to play and changed my mind about 2 dozen times thus far. As of this moment, it looks like it'll be "What a Wonderful World," but that is subject to change with little or no notice. :)

Anyway...that's all for now. I'm sure I'll be back later...I always come back.

posted by Jen @ 12:14 PM 1 comments

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Kill...me....now....

Last week was rough. I started back on Weight Watchers, and covered for missing people at both jobs all week. I worked all day Friday and Saturday, and am here all day again today. I taught every morning last week, and will probably be up at school every day this week, too.

Today I'm the only one at the counter. Val is coming in (it's her day off) to work my lunch, so I can eat and go to the bank and such. Of the 8 people employed in sales here (not counting repair), 2 of us are here. Me and Donny. Uh huh. That's it. Bill, Margaret, and Barry are on their way to CA for the NAMM conference, Dean is out on an appointment, & Clark is in B'ham again with Krista. Here's a little bit about my day so far...and it's not quite noon yet.

Crazy piano customer... She bought a (not-Steinway) piano and paid cash...the only reason I know? Because she throws that up in our faces every time she speaks to us. She called to speak to Barry last week, and he was tied up with a customer. Clark offered to take a message or have someone else help her, and she said something to the effect of, "Well, I guess since I already paid cash I'm no longer of any importance." She was bent out of shape because she paid cash for her piano and couldn't have it delivered the very same afternoon. Well, for starters, our movers are busy. Then there's the fact that she has 3 flights of stairs to maneuver-two of which are outside. They have to schedule more guys and many hours to get this baby grand up 3 flights of stairs. To top it all off, it's raining today, and she doesn't understand why they're not delivering her baby grand piano.

So now she wants Barry to come out and set it up for her - fine, well, and good except that he's on a plane to California now. Donny was going to go, until he realized that he and I are the only ones in the store. No way. Nuh uh. I am many things, and I wear many hats, but piano salesman is NOT one of them. Not to mention I don't want to be here alone - thanks very much. Dean stopped by to pick up his paycheck and put his foot down on that, too, bless his heart. He's coming in for an hour so Donny can go babysit this woman and her new piano. I mean, she DID pay cash...

Because karma has a sense of humor, a guy comes in just now and says, "I'm behind on my son's trombone payments and want to get caught up." Cool, not a problem. He hands me two Visa gift cards and says, "One has about $70 and the other has about $20." I suppose that was his way of wishing me the best of luck... He ends up calling Visa for an exact amount and with three separate charges between the two cards I manage to get just enough to cover his account until March. Does anyone else sense a trend in the suckiness of my day?

I took a phone call from a bassoon player at Tate...he was looking for his horn. Dean has it in his truck to be delivered tomorrow, and I relayed this info to the player. He freaks out, "But I have all-county rehearsal tonight!" Um, no you don't. I say, "Rehearsals start Thursday evening...don't they?" "No! Tonight! I have to have my horn!" Um, no. "All my paperwork at school says rehearsal starts on Thursday..." He asks his teacher, who agrees with me. He goes, "Oh. So I'll get it tomorrow then?" Yes, you little poophead, you'll get it tomorrow.

My mechanism to cope with stress is to eat...and since I arrived here today the urge to completely pig out has been barely, barely controllable. Apparently while most people have a "fight or flight" mechanism, I have "fight, flight, or feast". Meh. I'm going to go eat an All-Bran honey oat bar and pretend it's something more fattening and delicious.

posted by Jen @ 10:49 AM 1 comments

Friday, January 12, 2007

Quiz thingy

I created one of those "how well do you know me" quizes and posted it on my myspace...go take it! Maevyn, I think there will be a few that you will be the only non-relative to answer correctly. LOL!

Labels: pop quiz

posted by Jen @ 9:23 PM 1 comments

Monday, January 08, 2007

Gator Bowl trip: Saturday

We didn't have to be up all that early this day...but tell that to my roomie. She's an early riser, and we got up about 2 hours before the kids wake-up calls every day. That gave me about 3-5 hours of sleep each night. We had a 4 hour block of free time this day, and ended up driving out to Andrew Jackson High school (a team we BEAT in the playoffs last month...just sayin'...) and sort of borrowed their parking lot to get some practice in before contest that night. We unloaded in a grocery store parking lot, and drew a lot of attention to ourselves. We had people stopping to watch like we were rock stars or something. After this we headed back to the hotel, changed clothes and left for a late lunch, warm-up, and contest.

We stopped at CiCi's pizza for lunch, then headed for Terry Parker High for our warm-up. I don't think that the repercussions of such a lunch were fully thought through before hand, but hey - it was food. The warm-up at Terry Parker was interesting in that there was NOBODY there to direct traffic. We got off the buses and were like, "Um...ok. What do we do?" NOBODY there. We just sort of mosey-ed over to the baseball field to warm-up, and mosey-ed over to the football field when the band ahead of us left. This is when the trip mantra started.

boss: "Why don't they have someone here?!"
me: "They don't care."
boss: "Why is this so disorganized?!"
me: "Because they don't care."
And many, many variations on that theme. Also, let me just state for everyone reading that does not know my band director boss (which is pretty much everyone but Val and TX Jen), for him to comment on disorganization...it must be pretty bad.

Anyway, we finished on the practice field and headed to contest. We pulled in and met the shrill, gray-haired parking Nazi for the first time. (sarcasm)She was just swell.(/sarcasm) We were ordered off the bus to take all instruments off the bus, because apparently on that particular field it was illegal to have instruments on the bus. OK, maybe not, but there was no reason given for the executive order, so I improvised. Interestingly enough, that was the only instruction we were given throughout the entire contest. "Get your instruments off the bus and put them all on the truck. Now." Um...ok.

After the instrument migration we get the kids off the bus, to the bathrooms (the peeing-est children EVER) (heh, Cassi, it's another t-shirt!), and back to the buses. We hand out snacks of granola bars and such, then because there is NOTHING else to do, we get them dressed and tell them to go get their instruments off the truck (good thing we put them there!!!!). I stayed with the pit, mostly because there were no instructor-type people there and they looked scared and alone. We learn at this point that Bolles' school just put in a new AstroTurf field and are being understandably crabby about it being torn up...which led me to ask if anyone mentioned the columns that were part of the show. Um, no. Hell's bells, people! They're those enormous cardboard forms you use to pour cylindrical concrete forms for parking lot lights and such...they weigh about 70 pounds each, and while that's not a whole lot you have to consider their use. They're standing up on end for the first 2/3 of the show, putting all that weight on about 2/5 sq. feet of space, and then are knocked down to the ground to symbolize the fall of Rome. I mean, I'm not a physics major, but I do know enough to know that the force of them hitting the ground will be greater than their actual weight...or something like that. Sooo...thus began the Quixote-like task of finding someone to ask about it.

I promised the pit that I would be back, and left them to warm up. We weren't supposed to perform for an hour - they had plenty of wiggle room. I left with a parent (who is also a band director - small world) to find someone to ask about the columns. We figured interrupting a judge was out of the question, so we asked this security guard in a fancy golf cart (with special wheels so as not to tear up the new AstroTurf...I kid you not!). We explained that we thought we'd ask ahead of time rather than be killed later...he thanked us, and then whipped out his cell to call Jeff, the "guy in charge." Well, it turns out that Jeff? He wasn't there. Nope. The contest was already underway, and Jeff was nowhere to be found. ("They don't care!") Jeff was on his way there, though, and would have to inspect said columns to make sure they were ok for use. At this point I entertained the thought of calling my boss (he was warming up the band) to let him know we may have hauled 7 70-pound columns from P'cola for no reason, but thought better of it.

I returned to the pit, where they were all moving around frantically, trying to get ready.

"Mrs. Smith, some guy came over and said we have 5 minutes!"
"What?! We're not on for 45 minutes. 5 minutes till what?"
"Well, he didn't say. He just walked up and said, '5 minutes!' and walked off!"

The hell?! I called my boss, and he's not doing any better. Here's the conversation he'd just enjoyed:

boss: "We're a little early. What time do we report to warm-up?"
doesn't care: "Oh, not a problem. You can warm-up whenever you want."
boss: "Um...ok. Where is warm-up?"
doesn't care: "Oh, where ever. Find a spot."
boss: "...mmmmkay. When do we go on?"
doesn't care: "Uh, what time did your schedule say?"
boss: "7PM"
doesn't care: "Probably about then."
boss: "..."

So...the long and short? They didn't know, and obviously didn't care. So...he was extraordinarily frazzled, and therefore of no use to me. I could be frazzled on my own. I told the kids in the pit that we were taking matters into our own hands and I was going to make an executive decision. I headed over to the security guard and made sure it was ok to bring the pit over to wait for our performance, and he said "Sure." Thanks, buddy. I called over to a chaperone with them and told them to head over with all the equipment once the band on the field finished up. The security guard DROVE the 20 feet over to me to let me know the columns were a go - apparently Jeff finally showed up and we passed inspection. (They don't care!) We waited there on the sidelines till the band came to the gate, and then my boss called to say we were going on, and where was the pit? Heh.

The kids performed, and performed pretty well. They got a little off in spots, and one of the trumpets nearly fell down, but things went well. The original plan was to get them off the field, put away horns, take off coats, and then go back to the stands to eat and watch other bands, but that was all off...get this: they didn't have a concession stand open. No drinks, no snacks, no meals, NOTHING. (They don't care!) By this time all the instructors were completely fed up, so we packed up the truck, packed up the kids, and got the hell out of that crazy place. We went to the Avenue's mall again, and then headed back to the rooms. We told the kids they were going to be up very, very, VERY early the next morning and to get some sleep, then taped the doors and then crashed ourselves. Cripes, what a day.

posted by Jen @ 12:28 PM 0 comments

A vacation?

Indeed, a vacation. One without charter buses or 100+ teenagers, and nary a musical instrument to be seen. Well, maybe around me, but not with me. We're going back to New Orleans!

We've planned a 3-4 day trip to N.O. in May, without Cam (ahem...haven't talked to Barb about this yet, so don't let her know...heh!). I plan to drink all day every day, and do all the things I can't do in P'cola because I'll end up running into one of my students. :)

I'm back on track with my eating habits, too, thanks in no small part to a horrid stomach flu. One of our chaperones picked it up the last day we were in Jax, and I had three days later. Cam had it the next day, and then Billy had it the following day. Cam summed it up nicely when he told me, "I was pooping a lot and thought I was going to throw up, too!" Blar! That'll make you repent for any dietary sins and swear to stay on the straight and narrow for a while. Now I have a trip to look forward to, and no band trips to derail me again. Cross your fingers!

So yeah - we're going to New Orleans! We're going to do the tourist thing and support their recovery efforts in places besides bars, though. We're going to hit up the Aquarium and the Zoo, shop in the Market, and try for a haunted tour. I'm very excited. :)

I'm still working on the blog that will wrap up my most recent band trip...it's coming along, I promise. Keep checking back!

posted by Jen @ 12:09 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Gator Bowl trip: Friday

I'll start out by saying that it will be a long time before we do another Bowl game, thanks very much. Shoo... I understand that this is a huge event that takes boatloads of planning, but there were so many details left out and it was SO stressful... Here's a little overview of my very, very, very long weekend...I'm going to do it one day at a time so as not to overload anyone's circuits. :)

Friday: TJ dropped me off at school, and I found out that someone broke into the school gym as we were standing there. The parents were in the office going over last-minute stuff and realized that the band room was really awfully quiet...turns out the kids had loaded the luggage, equipment, and uniforms under the buses and then loaded themselves on the buses by 8:10. We didn't have to leave until 9. These kids are PROS now at this band trip thing. We made it through the trip with time to spare...oh, and nobody was picked up for shoplifting - yay!

Labels: band trip

posted by Jen @ 2:12 PM 0 comments

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