Hey! I just wanted to say to that anon who was nervous about going to Sherlock Seattle alone, I'm going alone too and yeah I'm a bit nervous as well (because I'm so so shy), but I completely agree with you that the overwhelming majority of people there are so nice and easy to talk to. Don't get discouraged nonny, I'm sure there's a lot of us going on our own!! (and come find me too!)
yeah!! see anon, nice ppl!!!
oh and annie you better find me too! i want to give all the hugs or fist bumps if you're not into huggles. <333 xd
This is going to be a bit long so I’m putting everything under a readmore
(Excuse the terrible picture of my program from tonight)
Tonight was quite possibly my favorite concert that I’ve performed in (and I’ve sung at Disney which was SPECTACULAR). I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people in the audience. When we were backstage and getting ready to go on, Chris said that we’d run out of programs to give to the people coming in. We’ve never done that. We always have extra programs. We had to take the stage a few minutes late to allow people to come in and find seats! I am absolutely flabbergasted at the turn out. We had a reception in the lobby of Turner and there was no room to walk because the audience had been so full.
But my evening didn’t start out so hot. I skyped with Spencer while I was doing my makeup and getting ready and I had everything set in my chair in the living room so I could grab it as I walked out the door.
And naturally I forgot something. Something very important. My concert shirt. I didn’t realize that I hadn’t put it in my Chorale bag until I was already across town right by TCC. So I had to text Lisa that I had to go back for something and drove back across the city. I got my shirt and returned to the Auditorium with the supplies I had bought for the reception (I never want to look at paper plates and napkins again jfc I had to buy and tote around 300+ of each and a few hundred drink cups oh my gooood).
And I promptly locked myself out of my truck. I’d intended to leave my doors unlocked so I could get out and go around to the passenger side to get my things but I fucking hit the lock button out of habit when I shut the door. So I was nearly in tears at that point. BUT I have a magic spare key thing somewhere in the back of my truck (I somewhere because the fucker always falls off of it’s spot and moves). So I had to climb into the truck bed in my dress pants and new jacket and lay down on wet leaves from recent storms and feel around for the key holder.
When I finally got hold of it, I managed to sit up and scoot myself to the end of the tailgate to hop out. Which is when I realized I’d parked opposite Todd. Who I like. Very much. And I had been swearing and muttering not-so-quietly to myself. And he was getting things out of his backseat and looked up as I hopped down and I waved the thing with the keys saying “I locked myself out” and he laughed and sympathetically said “oh no!” and resumed getting his things.
And then I tried to open the little thingy to get my spare key and I broke the fucker and both keys (my dad apparently slipped a spare house key in there) fell out. And I yelled “SHIT”. And then I remembered Todd. And I just kinda smashed my head against the rear window. By the time I’d found the keys and gotten into my truck, Todd was already across the lot (which was a shame because I should have asked for his help taking in my 3 large tote bags of things by oh well). (Also I’m not normally embarrassed by my swearing because I don’t verbally swear much but like no one on the board swears- at least not around other chorale members?- so I don’t want to upset anyone that doesn’t like profanity. So I’ve never sworn in front of any of them and I’m normally better at keeping my composure and it was just embarrassing to do it in front of Todd. Multiple times. In the span of about 40 seconds….)
After that highly stressful 40 minutes, the rest of the night went pretty well.
My sweet Miss Bonnie was there and she volunteered to help me get reception supplies from the music library and I spent the 30 minutes before our call time for rehearsal running around the auditorium getting things set up to collect music after the show because THIS WAS MY FIRST CONCERT AS THE OFFICIAL MUSIC LIBRARIAN!!!!!!
(LOOK AT THIS! I almost cried yesterday when I saw this in the program. I forget sometimes that people actually have faith in me to do things and they think I’d be god at something. And it still means so much that Todd and Lisa both approached me about taking over as Librarian over the summer and that the whole chorale had approved. And I’m so so so grateful to them and the other board members for being wonderful and helping me transition into the job.)
Part of collecting music is having everyone put their music and folders into one of two bins as we exit the stage. However, tonight only one of the bins was in the Library. Because Todd had (for whatever reason) taken one with him. Which he told me last night before saying he’d bring it with him today. So guess where we had a bit of a hiccup.
I went over two him when I was getting ready to put the one bin backstage and I asked if he’d brought in the other. And he made this almost comically panicked face and just stared at me before “Oh DAMMIT!” Which almost made me laugh because I have never heard him swear before. I mean he rarely even says “crap” instead of “crud”. And for some reason I found this adorable and amusing. (We ended up getting one of the boxes from our pecan sale and using it as the other bin.)
The concert itself was just. Absolutely stunning. It was celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 1914 Christmas Truce. Our music, save for two pieces, was influenced by letters that soldiers had written home about the event. We had narration to tell the story of the Truce and a slideshow that included a few pictures from one of the singers of her grandparents at the time.Putting it all together and just the energy being shared by the choir and our audience made for a very touching experience.
I got very misty-eyed during one of our songs, Paul Basler’s Pslam 23, because it has been the group’s collective favorite and tonight we really poured ourselves into it. And the verse “Thou preparest a table for me in the presence of my enemies” in the context of the Truce added so much to the song for me. And I got a bit choked up and I almost couldn’t sing the end of it.
Surprisingly, I didn’t cry during Stille Nacht. Because I always cry when I perform Silent Night. And tonight I was thinking of my dear friend Steven that visited two Christmases ago and I miss him dearly. (He helped give us the pronounciation for a couple of the words too.) And I can only assume it’s because I was focusing on getting the German as correct as I could because we once ran it in English in rehearsal and I almost balled. (I’m so lame and emotional about music I’m sorry.)
When I got into the auditoriums’s lobby after the concert (We got a standing ovation by the way and people were legit whistling and cheering and we have never gotten that reaction) there was hardly enough room to walk because of all the people.
I managed to find Miss Bonnie to give her the Christmas card I’d made her. She said she’d open it later when she was at home because the last time she read something I wrote her (a thank you note after the summer concert) she “boo-hoo cried” in public (Ooops….). She gave me this wonderfully big hug and kissed me on the cheek. Which I returned and I accidentally got some lipstick on her (Oops again). But she said not to worry and that she’d wear it as a badge of honor. Have I mentioned that I truly adore this woman?
It was probably about an hour until the lobby was clear enough to take the music back to the music library. It was about another 10 minutes of playing “who has Leslie’s keys because I need them” (which ended with Todd sneaking up behind me with them and dangling them at me when I turned around and almost had a heart attack.) before my wonderful helper for the evening, David, and I could actually go take the music (and other things that Lisa had us grab) back across campus.
We were selling our leftover Pecan Sale stock and Debra had put out some samples and when I got back with David she gave me a couple of the bags that had been opened. (SCORE!) So I have a nut mix and peanut brittle (FREEEEE!) and some Pralines (which I shouldn’t have bought but they’re so yummy I couldn’t help it…) to munch on for the next couple of weeks.
About half an hour later, we’d managed to get all of our (the Chorale’s) things from the little kitchen and David and I helped Chris lug the boxes back to the library (again). And then we had to wait for someone to bring the keys (again) because I’d returned them to Leslie. And Todd came to our rescue and the four of us got everything into the room and put in it’s place before we went back to the auditorium to grab the last of our personal belongings.
I was standing with Lisa and Todd and they were discussing the next board meeting next week (which I’ll be able to go to huzzah because work has caused me to miss the last three meetings -.-). And if I’ve heard correctly, Todd’s planning to have us go to an Italian restaurant in the mall. And he said he’d buy all the drinks and appetizers. And when Lisa asked if alcohol was included in that statement he said “Damn straight there’ll be alcohol” which cracked me up (and he looked at me with this big grin like “yay that was successful” which was lovely).
When we successfully FINALLY made it out of the building for good, we only made it a few feet before we started all chatting again. And David (bless that beautiful human being) went to his car and brought us a cooler with drinks in it so we could have a nice cold coke while we talked. We ended up standing in a circle (Todd at 12 o’clock, Leslie and 2, Chris at 4, me at 6, David at 8, and Lisa at 10). And David pulled out a ziploc bag with some red grapes in it (I suppose they were for a fruit platter?) and asked if anyone wanted them. And I very quickly said YES! and got the bag. Todd looked like he was about to laugh so I said that we’d gone to publix yesterday and dad had bought a bag of red grapes and when I went to get some he’d eaten them all (which is true) so I was excited for these. And he cracked up (success!).
And a couple minutes later Leslie had mentioned something about eating now that’s she’s pregnant (she’s just reached the second trimester. She announced last week it’s so cute she’s got the baby bump and I’ve been wondering for a little while if she was because of the little bump) and David said “I’d offer you grapes but they’ve been claimed” and I just slowly started slipping the bag under my jacket and Todd saw and grinned adorably mischievously and started whistling “innocently” and looking away.
Finally we all said our goodnights and goodbyes and went our separate ways. Except that Todd was parked right behind me so we walked to our cars together. Leslie called across the lot to us about seeing her breath and we all automatically starting going “haaaaaaah” and amusing ourselves. And then I brilliantly mentioned that I tend to do that and make either train noises or dragon noises “because I’m an adult and desperately pretending not to be” which cracked Todd up again.
We ended up talking for a bit at our cars and we talked about the concert and how well the turn-out was. I mentioned my sentimental feelings from Psalm 23 and he agreed that it was a very poignant piece for our theme. And then he mentioned that Auld Lang Syne (which was done as a solo piece for one of our section leaders) got to him a bit (it got to me too. Lame emotional music nerd alert.)
When we started to actually go to get into our cars, he turned back and thanked me for the work I put in this semester as the Librarian. (Which almost got me a bit choked up because I don't know how to handle people expressing gratitude and similar emotions to me????) But there was something in the way that he said it that made me think he hadn't said the same to other Board members? Like, it wasn't his usual, peppy "Hey thanks for all your help!" It was very... gentle and genuine and soft. And the way he'd actually said the words ("Hey Emily.....Thanks for everything you've done this semester- especially with the music.") had made me think he was going to say something else. And he seemed kinda shy and bashful saying it and now I'm really curious if that was what he'd actually intended to say because of how he paused after saying my name. And I could have sworn he was going to say something after that but he just closed his mouth, smiled and said goodnight and turned to his car.
And then, me being me, I tripped over the fucking pavement walking to my car door and flailed and made ridiculous noises. So the last thing I heard befor leaving tonight was Todd laughing at me for that.
