Playing for the wedding went well - even though one of the girls forgot to bring her music, which meant we were going to be really short for postlude music. We managed, though. Nothing quite like pulling ideas out of nowhere to do some quick CYA.

Most amusing thing about the wedding - during the sermon, the priest said something along the lines of, "Jesus is calling"...and as he was saying "calling", somebody's cell phone rang. Can't beat that for timing! Was difficult to keep a straight face - even for the priest. He had to pause a bit, and from where we were, I could see him biting the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing.

Nasty winter weather between here and the farm, or I'd be headed there right now. Freezing rain around noon, and they're supposed to get 4 - 7" of snow before the storm system has moved through. Since I'd be driving into that...I'm waiting until tomorrow morning to head out.

Winter is officially here. We had temperatures below zero this morning (that would be below -20 for you Celsius scale types), with a wind chill somewhere around -21 (-30 C). I don't mind the cold...but I don't like a nasty wind with it, especially since my apartment - and the school - are on the western edge of town, with absolutely nothing to break up the blast.

Ah, well...

The music calendar is very rapidly filling up - big surprise, since it's closing in on December...

HSO performances are this Saturday and Sunday. I've missed the last three rehearsals...for our concert, playing at the football game in the Metrodome, and the rescheduled-to-Tuesday-to-avoid-Thanksgiving one last week. Normally, I'd be a little concerned about missing 3 of the last 4 practices before the concert. However, the music for this one is easy enough that with the exception of a couple sections of Messiah, my high school bunch could play it passably well with only 2-3 rehearsals.

Madrigal performances are the second weekend of December. I'm getting a little sick of those rehearsals, to be perfectly honest. The group just isn't jelling the way we did the last two years. It certainly doesn't help that we haven't had a single rehearsal with everyone there (at least, not that I remember...Duke Juan said we did have one three weeks ago). It isn't nearly as much fun as it has been in past years. Maybe having the 6-hour drive each way to get to rehearsal has something to do with that...

After the heavy-duty weekends, school concerts roll into sight. The orchestra concert is on the 13th. HS Choir concert on the 18th (doesn't involve me directly, other than as a general dogsbody to help out MF). Then, on the 22nd, I'll be playing cello in a quartet with some students for a wedding. I kinda saw that coming...since the cellist who played with them last year isn't around. The one who got the wedding gig lined up asked me this morning at the before-school practice if I'd mind playing with them, "because I haven't found time to ask anyone else to play". I'm not thrilled with the tunes we're playing (have I mentioned recently how much I hate Pachelel's Canon in D, especially if I'm playing the bass part?), but it will go well.

This week definitely flew past! It doesn't seem as though it should be Sunday night already, but here it is... I suppose having a more-full-than-usual schedule for the whole week contributed to the rapid disappearance of time...

HSO (http://www.heartlandsymphony.org/season.html) concerts were last night and this afternoon. Both were very well-received...even the normally very reserved (think stereotypical Norwegian bachelor farmers) Little Falls crowd gave us a standing ovation. I'm guessing a good part of that was due to our guest artist, cowboy poet Dianne Tribbit. She was amazing - even though I couldn't hear most of her poetry because we were playing at the same time.

We (the viola section, plus our honorary violist from the horn section) surprised the conductor this afternoon. He had made a comment in Thursday night's rehearsal that the viola section has the solo in "Saturday Night Waltz" because we're kind of like "wallflowers that are just starting to blossom" and that we need to play with more passion. I don't remember exactly how he put it, but he mentioned that we should give the impression that we were sitting in front of the fireplace on a bearskin rug, with flowers and glasses of wine. During the break in the rehearsal, the section decided that we should do something about/with/to his suggestion. Well...one of the kids had a bearskin rug that he was wearing last week during the Homecoming festivities. I mentioned that, and the idea blossomed... I borrowed the bearskin, the horn player brought wine glasses, another of the violists brought some ginger ale (we play in high school auditoriums, so we couldn't bring real wine in...). When I got to the dress rehearsal today, I put the bear's head on the podium, with the rest of it draped back toward our section. The wine glasses (with ginger ale) went on the podium, just ahead of the bear's nose. A few of the orchestra members chuckled as they noticed what we were doing...and then the conductor walked right past once without even noticing! The orch manager came toward the podium to give us a couple of announcements, saw the bear, and started laughing. Then the director saw it...and was completely stunned. He finally asked, "Whose idea was this?" And of course, my answer was: "Yours!" We all had a good laugh, and then the bear and glasses disappeared off into the wings for the publicity picture. And then...as the photographer was starting to work her way back down, the director said, "Wait!" and ran off to the wings. He came back with the bear and one of the wine glasses, and sat in front of the orch for another picture...wearing the bear draped over his head and shoulders.

Needless to say, the tension was pretty well gone by this point, because we were all too busy laughing to feel stressed.

Next major event on the calendar: HS concert on Tuesday...
And no school on Thursday or Friday! Time to sleep late and then get all the miscellaneous moving-in stuff done that still hasn't gotten wrapped up. (Couple of boxes of decoration-type stuff to empty, then lots of boxes to store.)

Having a cold sucks rocks. Anyone care to take it away?
Most recent medication: a generous shot of scotch. :-)

[rant]
The dryer in the laundry room of the apartment building sucks rocks. The first time I used it, I thought it didn't do a very good job, but attributed that to the fact that there were some heavy things in the load (towels, blue jeans). Today's load was much lighter (t-shirts and dress shirts, mainly), but after two cycles, everything was still damp. So there are shirts hanging from every available place in my apartment. Over doors, from doorknobs, on hangers on teh shower curtain rod...it looks as though the dryer exploded in the apartment.
[/rant]

Had a high school student come in for her first violin lesson after school today - she signed up for orchestra, but has never played before. She already plays piano, which makes my job much easier (don't have to teach note-reading, counting, etc.), and is also in choir...and has a good ear. At one point, she said, "That doesn't sound quite right. What am I doing wrong?" Her whole hand had slid about ¼ inch closer to the bridge, so all of her notes requiring fingers were a bit sharp. Zipped through the first ~30 pages of the lesson book...and she didn't seem to have any trouble understanding how to do any of it. She's gonna be a good violinist. Great kid to work with, too - asks good questions, tries before saying "I can't"...

I have regular internet access at home again!

Now...to catch up on tons of email. And reading a bunch of blogs. And TT.

There are a gazillion flies in the apartment today. And they're stupid ones, too. I've caught at least a dozen - as they land on one arm, I swipe at them with the opposite hand...and then deposit the ones I catch in the plants. Well...there aren't plants yet. They're still seeds. Am trying an (admittedly rather strange) experiment...my brother mentioned that it would be cool to have corn on the cob for Thanksgiving. So - I have 30 kernels of corn planted in greenhouse plant containers sitting on the windowsill. It'll be interesting to see what happens if they all sprout - could be almost like a field in the living room.

Same cell phone number - because I had to get a landline in order to get DSL. They haven't gotten around to running cable to this corner of town yet.

Time to go whittle down the email backlog...

Hmm...over a month since I updated here...

Highlights: job hunting, subbing, more job hunting, barbershop district contest (in Sioux Falls), even more job hunting, annual barbershop show (Saint Cloud), an education job fair, and a couple of interviews.

Interview last week went okay - until the last question. Apparently the school has a very high-powered marching program. So much for that. They're interviewing another 4 people this week, too, so I'm definitely not going to hold my breath waiting for a job offer there. Oh, well. It isn't as though I don't have 50 other applications out. (And no, that isn't an exaggeration...might be off by a couple, but it's close. $35 on postage, plus 15 online apps...)

Worked a softball doubleheader last Thursday - has to be the easiest $110 I've ever earned. First game took just under an hour; second game about 1:15. The home team won both games...10-0 and 14-2 (or something like that). In the first game, the losing team didn't get a girl past second base - and she only got there because she was hit by a pitch, and then went to second on a little dribbler that didn't even get back to the pitcher. The baseball game on the diamond just a bit beyond the fence finished up just shortly after our second game.

Have games to work on both Monday and Tuesday this week. Monday is in Ladysmith, Tuesday in Hayward. Will have to drive like a madman to get to Hayward in time, since it's a little over an hour's drive from where I'll be subbing. School ends at 3:12; game is scheduled to start at 4:30...and we're supposed to be on the field at least 20 minutes before game time. I don't think I'm going to make that...but will let the AD know that I'll be there in time for the game to start on time.

So I stopped in to pick up the 1st violin book so I could get all the cuts and other miscellaneous stuff marked in before last night's rehearsal, I got a bit of a surprise... "Did Mr. W. tell you about the little twist we've come up with?" (Mr. W. is the pit conductor, and is also playing the role of Sitting Bull.) "When he's on stage, we'd like to have you conduct." Umm...okay. Let's hope my conducting sight-reading skills haven't disappeared in the past few weeks - especially since there are quite a few spots that we have to follow the kids on stage...or I have to give them cues! Sheesh...I really hope there aren't any other surprises in store...

---
update after the rehearsal...

Major project: taking the books for violin 1 & 2 and mashing the parts together to make sure all the solo bits are covered, while not giving myself an impossible-to-learn-in-2-days part.

Translation of "when he's on stage, we'd like to have you conduct" -- "You get to conduct Act II."

Why is it that there is never a policeman around when people go flying past me as though their vehicles were shot from a cannon, yet when I go 11 mph over the limit, a state patrolman shows up? Grr. I am not a happy camper...and my travel fund isn't happy, either.

Back to Block tomorrow...last time for a while, since it has slowed down considerably. I'll be on an every-other weekend schedule through the end of tax season...unless it gets really busy. (I don't think that will happen.)

Had a definite "thumbs up" moment today. Was standing in the hall during the four-minute passing time between classes, and the superintendent walked past, then turned around and came back to talk to me. He asked how I was doing, and if they were keeping me busy enough...and then added that he had told the principals to make sure that "I got called any time we need a substitute." Can't beat that kind of a recommendation!

Did a ride-share with a couple of guys from this side of the river to GNU rehearsal last night... On the way back, one of them asked when I thought I'd be "riser ready". Apparently, there have been a few conversations about getting me to join, because the membership guy asked me if I was ready to start the audition process, too. The only thing holding me back is that I don't know where I'll be teaching next fall...but you can bet if it's within a reasonable driving distance from the MSP area, I'm joining! (Roughly 85 guys there last night...14 tenors!!)

Have a college job app all but finished - have to add in some details (street addresses & phone numbers) of the schools where I've taught, and it's good to go. It's a community college, so a doctorate isn't a requirement, which is nice. Would be teaching music theory, appreciation, and directing the chamber orchestra...nothing I couldn't handle!

So much for getting on other sub lists today...the phone rang at 5:45. "Are you available to sub in the elementary SpEd room for Mrs. D?" Gee...lemme think. Since I haven't had a chance to contact anyone else at any other schools about being available again... Was more of a resource room than actual SpEd - and there's a student teacher, too, so she ran the show, and I did little helpful things. Easy day.

Apparently I have developed quite a fan club in the past three days that I haven't been doing elementary band. (Was in the HS end on Monday & Tuesday.) I lost track of how many of the band kids stopped to ask if and when I was going to come back and take over band - "We hate Mr. L. He talked for almost 40 minutes, and we only had time to play one song. You have to kick him out." Three kids came screaming across the cafeteria as I was headed out after school, with the mom of one of them trailing behind. (The mom is their DI coach, and they were supposed to be working on their DI.) Half an hour later... Based on their comments, there are at least a dozen of the 6th graders and "probably all" of the 5th graders who want to see Mr. L. disappear. The mom is not afraid to rattle cages, either, and said she'd probably make time to stop in to talk to the superintendent, principal, and any school board members she can buttonhole.

Nice to know there's support - even if the chances of me actually stepping into that job are practically nonexistent.

Yet another in the bits-and-pieces category...

Snow day today - only about 2 or 3 inches overnight, but there's enough wind to make some pretty nasty drifts. Just talked to my brother, and he said that a neighbor got stuck in the middle of the road near his driveway - got "high-centered" on a drift. (i.e. the drift was tall enough that it lifted the wheels off the ground when he tried to go through it...)

Ran into my kid Tuesday night at the Cenex on the south side of SC. We stood there and talked (and D probably froze) for at least 20 minutes. I think the people inside were a little irritated with me...they're supposed to close at 10, and it was nearly quarter after by the time I walked in to pay. Oops. But hey - it isn't every day I get to see and talk to my (not-so) little girl.

First rehearsal for school musical pit earlier tonight. Right now, I'm playing French horn, although that will change if they can find another horn player. Actually, it might change regardless of whether they find another one. Apparently, the high school chick who said she'd play her violin in the pit thought it was going to be only 4 or 5 songs, so she's panicking a little bit...so I will probably end up being "promoted" to pit concertmaster.

Undergraduate student loan remaining balance due will be under $500 once they get the payment that is going out in tomorrow's mail. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Forgot to write down a check that I wrote sometime between last week Monday and today...and I have no clue what it could be. Have eliminated a few possibilities, but not enough to figure it out. Grr. Means I won't be able to balance my checkbook until it makes its way through the bank and I can find out who it was written to/for. Oh, well. There's still plenty to pay this month's rent bill.

I love winter! It's cold enough this morning that when I stepped out side and took a deep breath, my nostrils froze shut. It's also cold enough - below -40 with the wind chill - that we don't have school...a fact I didn't find out until I had walked in, through a completely quiet building, and checked with the secretary to see if it was a one- or two-hour late start. Oh, well...

Will be headed off to Block shortly, since it's a fairly busy day scheduled there. Could turn out to be a dud, though, if people just hole up because of the cold... I'm not going to turn down the chance to pick up some hours at Block (even if they turn out to be bookkeeping and not tax prep), since no school = no pay.

Less than a week until KVSC trivia contest! Random trivia question for all 2 of you who bother to read this: Name the first US airline to hire a female flight attendant.

Yet another very lopsided (and therefore difficult to referee) basketball game. I don't remember the final score of the game on Tuesday, but it was 21-1 at halftime. The first quarter tonight was close (8-5, I think...or 8-6) - but only because neither team could hang onto the ball or make a basket to save their lives. I wish I had counted the number of airballs...I'm sure there were a dozen in the first quarter alone. Final score: 61-15. Ouch.

Normal time getting back home after SC barbershop rehearsal: slightly after midnight.
Time getting back home after rehearsal here in town last night: slightly before midnight.
Officially, rehearsal ended at 9:30. A bunch of us hung around afterward and sang everything we could think of that all of us knew (or had music for). I don't remember the last time I sang for 4 hours in a day.

Student loan balance (only for undergraduate loans, unfortunately) is down to three digits! YAY!! Will be nice to have one paid off...

Ahh...snow days! We were supposed to have school today, but the 5" of snow overnight (with some freezing rain before the snow started) wiped that out. Called the school to check, since I'm not on the calling tree...realized afterward that I could have checked the Eau Claire tv station closing list. Oh, well.

Lazy day. Didn't bother to get dressed (t-shirt & sweats doesn't count as "dressed" in my book)...loafed, read, messed around on the internet, made stew, did an arranging project... Only down side is that no school = no work = no pay. If I had known in advance that we'd have a snow day, I could have gone in to Block. Meh.

No barbershop tomorrow night - well, not in St Cloud, anyway. Will be refereeing a basketball game, so since I don't have access to a teleporter, I wouldn't get to SC in time for any of the rehearsal. Will check out the local chorus, I guess...

First day at the Block yesterday. Three returns (12 in the office all day), all pretty simple ones. Nice way to ease into doing taxes again. Started mine, too - and according to the IRS methods of figuring things, I had a $4000 loss last year doing music stuff (teaching lessons, judging solo-ensemble contests, quartet performances). But...considering that the mileage involved was over 10K (at 44.5 cents per mile)... I'm not gonna complain - that's $4000 less that I'll be paying income taxes on!
Madrigal wrap-up party last night...it started to break up around 10, but the die-hards kept it going until midnight.

Wedding was nice - ceremony was short & sweet (maybe 40 minutes total from the start of the processional until the end of the recessional), decorations were simple & understated...very tasteful. Best of all - no cheesy, overused "traditional wedding music" anywhere in the ceremony. The processional was an untitled piece by Sigur Ros (and no, I had never heard any of his (her?) stuff before), the recessional was a Beatles' tune.

Only time the "when is it your turn" bit came up was during the lunch following, when a bunch of us were doing the traditional (for our family) prediction of which cousin's turn would be next. E is the hands-down favorite, since he's engaged. (He was the #1 guess last time, as well...but since he's engaged now, it's pretty much a given.) One of the uncles said something to me along the lines of, "rumor has it that you're next." My response: "Really? Obviously, you know something I don't!"

Five weeks until KSVC trivia marathon.

Truffles are finally finished, and will be in the mail on Monday.

Happy 2007.
Am definitely not happy with the bozo I'm filling in for at school. He's back this week - but won't give me any clue what his plans are for the rest of the 30-some sick days he has remaining. Should I be looking for another gig...should I just stay put and wait for the school here to say something... I don't know how to ask him any more plainly than I did today, but his answer was absolutely worthless. Some people's kids...or something like that.

Nice surprise in my pile of mail today - a check for refereeing that I had forgotten was still out. Bonus for the travel fund! :-)

Read 7000+ pages over the 10 days of vacation - the Wagons West series (minus the last two books, since we don't have those), the first three books in the Mitford series (highly recommended if you want a laugh), and Bill O'Reilly's Culture Warrior. Was nice to have the luxury of kicking back to read without having a gazillion interruptions all the time.