Santa Cruz

Well, this past weekend we went to Santa Cruz, joining the Sac State Marching Band on their tour. The band played at the Santa Cruz band (parade) festival, a standstill on the beach prior to the festival awards ceremony. It was a pretty good trip, the band played well and the rain held off at least until the festival was done.

Though for some reason I just didn't sleep too well. Even at the Hilton, which was quite a nice hotel.

But we stayed an extra night after the band left Saturday evening, in a hotel right on the beach, and got to spend some time exploring the area a bit. It's an odd town, Santa Cruz. The kind of place where bums wedge themselves into small garbage cans with the lid still on and panhandle for change. The kind of place where other bums wander into a pizza joint and strike up a conversation with folks at a table, and those folks get up to go get a to-go box to send the guy away with some food. The kind of place where folks talk on their cell phones on the beach, wearing heavy cold weather clothing but with open-toed sandals.

We got to walk along the beach Sunday morning, and marvel at the crashing waves and cliff-like edges of sandy beach being eroded away by the water. It certainly is calm and peaceful there...when the boardwalk isn't open yet. I'm not much into the boardwalk really; to me it's just a run-down dumpy Disneyland. But it's good I guess, for it's purpose. We walked a good distance and made it all the way to the Walton lighthouse before turning back.

Woody's on the Wharf, by the way, is a cool place to grab some lunch, and includes lovely ocean and coastline views. It was raining by then, on Sunday afternoon, and rained most of the way home as well. But hey, it was a nice weekend getaway.

Now back to the grind, and The Wiz is looming around the corner...

Rent

Rent, Rent, and more Rent. That's been the story of this month. No, not the monthly payment towards to real owner of your current residence. I call that "mortgage". But I've been playing the musical at the 24th Street Theatre - two of them in fact: the mainstage version and the school edition version.

So this weekend wraps up the end of the runs of both, and by tomorrow we will have played the show in tech rehearsals or performances 11 times in 10 days. And that's a lot of Rent.

It's actually quite a fun show to play, and very challenging for me since I'm not a rock musician by nature. The parts offer a lot of variety, a far cry from the oom-pa bass parts you see in a lot of classic musicals. But it has been tiring, and my left wrist has been hurting for a week now (tendinitis anyone?) It's been so bad that I've had to resort to taking ibuprofen just to make it through some of the shows.

Due to the playing position needed for the left hand on a electric bass, my wrist stiffens up after most numbers and I have to slowly bend it back to a straight position and loosen it up between numbers. And don't even get me started on the loss of dexterity I'm having on those fast moving rockin' bass lines!

But it's been really fun to play, as I've said, and the cast is uber talented (some folks have told me it's the best production they've ever seen RSP put on).

If you missed it, too bad for you. At the moment there's less than 30 tickets available for the final two shows, tonight and tomorrow afternoon. Then I'll get a bit of a break to rest the wrist before the next project begins: directing The Wiz from October 29-November 21. Good thing conducting uses the right hand...

There Went That Month

So, here we are in the first week of school, and indeed the first day of September. Where did August go? It must have been a figment of my imagination. But, a lot has been going on. Some recaps... First and foremost, I am currently sitting in the jazz studio at school, literally babysitting the room to make sure nothing gets stolen. The door was removed by the locksmiths today so they can router it out and install a new digital door lock. The old one crapped out in June, and after months of filing and emailing requests and generally being ignored, they finally got back to us a couple of weeks ago with an estimate. And now, finally it's being fixed. So life can move on. At least for the jazz folks anyway, who will now be able to access their studio instead of canceling classes since there was no way for them to get in the room.

This is also tech week for me; after a year and a half hiatus I am back at Runaway Stage Productions to perform in this month's production of Rent. Now, I'm not really a rocker, and this book is pretty intense, that is to say there's a couple spots that are really kicking my ass. But, if it doesn't kill me, I should be a better player by the end. I've also been arranging music for the marching band (oh yeah, THAT'S where August went!). Their pregame and halftime music is done, and i think the arrangements turned out pretty well. The drum staff has them now to write in their parts, though the pregame is done and the band is currently rehearsing it. It sounds really good! I think they like it. At least I hope they do. 

The other part of August disappeared with a camping trip to Rollins Lake and a subsequent cold that was fairly nasty for (fortunately) short period of time. Our camping spot had a little trail behind it that went off into the woods and eventually came to a dead end. So I put my hammock up at the start of it and enjoyed several afternoon naps. One day, I awoke and looked up at the trail and a deer was standing there, about 25 feet away maybe, just staring at me. So, we stared at each other for awhile, and he eventually decided I was okay and proceeded to wander off a little bit and munch on some plants. I watched him for about a half hour or so. Well that about sums up the last month. Is it kind of sad that one month of your like can be squeezed down into one online blog? Hmm. Perhaps that should be debated another day...

Weekend Folly

So I just got back into the office after a nice weekend spent mostly at home. Over the weekend the custodial staff apparently came in and waxed my office floor. Unfortunately they left my refrigerator unplugged, causing it to spontaneously defrost.

So I came into the office today to find that I was now sporting a small lake on my office floor. Had I known, I would have brought fishing tackle. Thankfully my fridge was not too frosted over to begin with, nor did it have a lot of food left over the weekend. So the puddle wasn't too bad, nor was the smell of rotting food.

After spending a little while on my hands and knees mopping up with paper towels (we aren't trusted with things like mops - those are only entrusted to folks who don't believe in plugging in refrigerators...), order has been restored, and I can now continue with my regularly scheduled office work.

But, should I trust the yogurt that was left warming in my fridge over the weekend??

Shape Up

So yesterday we did the unthinkable. We joined....a gym. Yes, it is true. We live right down the street from a new California Family Fitness, literally just a 5 minute walk away. We had actually been considering joining for awhile, but had yet to even step foot in the place. You know how it goes; the typical stereotype is that once you join one you never go. And hence you just end up throwing money away.

So last night we stepped foot inside and took a tour, then got the sales pitch, then talked over the sales pitch, then finally decided to go for it. It wasn't really a bad deal; we're on a month to month plan which for the both of us is $87 per month. No registration fees. No processing fees. That's it.

The facility, being a newer one, is actually quite nice. Two stories of equipment, three racketball courts, a full size basketball court, a rock climbing wall, and indoor pool and spa, two outdoor pools, and numerous additional rooms where special classes are held. All included in the membership.

So today, a Wednesday at 5pm, we walked over to - and here I sound more like a yuppie - 'hit the gym'. The girl we had signed up with was there, and she admitted that it was just about their busiest hour. But it wasn't that crowded really, or at least the vastness of space helped spread the people out so it didn't seem crowded.

I spent 10 minutes on the stationary cycle while watching a half inning of baseball and cycling 3 miles, then did some reps on the various apparatus, before hitting the pool and spa areas. All in all it was quite a pleasant experience. Now let's see if we can keep it up from day to day...

And....Layoffs

So last week was a historic one for the CSU. For the first time ever - layoffs were announced. Granted, on the staff side of things, it's not as bad as it could of been. Their plan for 12% reduction calls for only 8 staff members campus wide to be layed off. Beyond that, many positions which have been vacated - really all of the positions that have been vacated - will not be rehired. This will amount to a staffing reduction of over 90 at our campus.

Guess the rest of us will just have to work a little harder...

I'm not sure, but I think by this point those special 8 individuals have been notified. At least, we are seeing anti-establishment graffiti right now on campus. Reminds me a little of the Hate Week portrayed in the novel 1984 (my current 'leisurely' summer reading...)

The card readers to the faculty/staff garage entrance were spray painted over, rendering them virtually useless (good thing I took the bus in today...). And, graffiti appeared both on the garage wall ("I was raped by Sac State!") and on the back of a state pickup truck, something "my life and job" sucking. I didn't get a real good look. Nor did I stick around to see what else there likely was.

In the words of Vonnegut...and so it goes.

Today I am leaving work early to go to the doctor's office - my first visit in over a decade if you don't count to one to get new prescription glasses a few years back. I sprained something in my knee fairly badly on Saturday evening, and now, although I can walk just fine, I can't bend my leg well enough to sit down without experiencing sharp pain. Nor can I get in and out of a car very well. Or put on my own shoes and socks.

And so it goes.