oboeinsight

I’m going back to see The Light In the Piazza tonight; I bought tickets for Dan’s birthday. I hope he likes it as much as I did! :-)
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I was playing English horn on some sort of shortened version of Nutcracker. The second half of the show didn’t need me, but I realized, during intermission, that I was supposed to play something on oboe after the second half ended. Yikes. My reeds were at home (apparently I didn’t play oboe in the first half).

I drove to get my reeds—insert long convoluted story here about using my mother’s car—and finally located them. But not at my house. I was at the General Manager’s house instead. And he was angry, because the night before I had left and not played the oboe part. I explained that he never told me about it (although I had done it last year; I didn’t remind him of that!) so he sort of backed off and took the blame. Whew.

Walking back, suddenly with Dan and Jameson, I realized I’d forgotten my mom’s car. But now I’d lost my way to the GM’s house! (He lived in some sort of bizarre city with castles and cobblestones). I rambled all over. I cried and cried. I wound up at some sort of hall, but not the one at which I was to perform. I finally found his house.

Suddenly I was back at the hall, but I had missed everything. The head of the ballet yelled and yelled but I came back with many tears and a fabulous speech about how, while he was upset, he couldn’t possibly imagine how much more upset I was. I went on and on, and the head of the box office said something that implied I really knew how to convince people of things.

In any case, the dream was much more elaborate, and very troubling.

Musicians have dreams about forgetting concerts, not knowing music, playing an instrument (usually soloing) unknown to them … it runs the gamut.

But now I’m very, very tired. It’s exhausting going up and down cobblestone streets and being yelled at. Really.
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So if my blog is really worth what these folks suggest, why is my savings account suffering so?

My blog is worth $19,194.36.
How much is your blog worth?

Hmmm. Send your oboeblog payment to my PO Box and maybe I’ll start believing this goofy stuff! ;-)

But, really, I’m a little disappointed in this meager sum. All the work I’m doing and it’s worth $19,194.36. I don’t want to think about how many hours I’ve spent on all these silly little projects. (I even wonder how many people go and check out the different pages!)

Meanwhile
Tension is mounting. The Giants are ahead, 7 to 3. If we can last through the top of the 9th I’ll be a happy camper. But I know my Giants—I love ‘em, but they can do some mighty silly things in the 9th.

Out #1.

Out #2.

BINGO! We Won!

(And now I see why; Elvis was in the park. Really. There was a guy in an Elvis costume there. Bizarre.)
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I’ve enjoyed my encounters with the Imani Winds (I own two CDs). Upon reading this article I laughed at this part:

Scott also has the distinction of being the only guy in the group. How does he handle that?

“Chocolate — and plenty of it,” quips the musician, who distributes candy to his female colleagues on tour. “The trick is, you’ve got to ration it. If you give it all to them in the first two days, where are you going to be at the end of the week?”

Ah yes. Chocolate! The man knows what he’s talkin’ about.

I’m still working at this and it’s clearly going to take a very long time to finish it! (Well, okay, it will never actually be finished … right?) But it sure is fun! I love seeing all the different names and visiting sites that I can’t understand. Somehow I can usually locate the musicians’ roster, though.

Romeo & Juliet
I picked up the music for the opera. I’ve played it before, and yet it doesn’t ring any bells when I play it now. Funny how that works. (We have new parts; I actually would love to see my old part to see what sort of marks I put in it.) I sure wish I could SEE the opera; what a drag that I’ll be playing this great Shakespeare work and won’t be able to see one darn thing. Boo hoo for me.
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… can you imagine?

I mean, get this: I just, off the very top of my head, sang these lines, creating the TUNE as well, mind you, and singing in my very own voice. (Is that a triple threat? Yes. Heh. I can hear Dan now, “Yes, it’s a threat.”):

I would never hate you forever,
Just until you die.
I would never hate you forever,
So baby don’t you cry.

So I dunno. Am I good or what?

Yeah. I guess “what” is the correct answer. :-)

And no, I didn’t really mean what I sang (or “sung” as some writers keep writing—don’t they know it should be “done gone and sung”?). I was just being the goofy me that I can be.

Hmmm … “the goofy me that I can be” seems as if it’s calling out for a tune as well!
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… and the reason I didn’t plod on with my latest project yesterday was due to a very annoying reaction I had to some meds. I’m not going to go into it here, since I already rambled about it on the pattyo, but I will say I hate when I have bad reactions to meds! (I do react frequently and I suppose this is good—it’s doubtful that I’d ever get into taking drugs just for fun, eh?)

In any case, I’m feeling a bit better today, but I’m still finding that I’m moving slowly and my head feels as if it’s just on the verge of rebelling again.

In Other News
Today is the day I can go pick up my Opera San José music! Yesterday, as we were walking downtown, we walked by the California Theatre and Dan said something about how I was probably missing it and happy that things would be starting up again soon. And he’s right. Absolutely. I can’t wait to get back to work!

But getting back to work means getting off my you-know-what and doing the reed thing.

That isn’t nearly as exciting.
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