When I was younger I could sleep until NOON.
What happened? Argh.
Up at 7, breakfast, and started organizing the guest bedroom. It's still chaos but now the chaos is in piles: stuff I'm still using to practice, stuff to bring to Epic this week, and stuff mounded into the big suitcase for bringing on tour.
I tried the new mutes and encountered a problem: they're too big!!
I was not expecting that, and don't remember it being an issue when I tried them at Will's house. Anyway, there wasn't much I could do but feel disappointed and send pictures to Ilan and try to coordinate with him for a return visit. He's going to try printing me some smaller ones, but either way I've got to return these, and now I'm out $200 and have NO mutes :(
Disappointed and annoyed with myself for not bringing my trombone to the initial visit to check that they'd fit. It never occurred to me that they might not.
Frustrated, I decided to take myself shopping for a new black shirt to bring on tour, but after driving 40 minutes to the nearest Macy's (in a plaza with an Old Navy, Ross, and Target) I failed to find a single black button-up shirt, between all of those stores.
Even MORE frustrated now, I went to World Market and found a few nice Snack Pod options and didn't even have to pay for them because I had a gift card. I used the
HP from that to try visiting a tailor to see if they could shorten the strap on my crossbody bag, but they looked at me like I was insane and said they couldn't do it. So ultimately despite the World Market goodies I still went home annoyed and feeling like I didn't accomplish diddly poo.
Back home I did more packing and planning, ordered dinner for us when it was time, and tried to schedule myself a more productive day for tomorrow. Jameson had a frustrating day at work too. Today felt like we were spinning our wheels, but some days are like that and there's nothing for it but to learn from it and then keep on keepin' on.
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Tuesday, I managed to sleep in until 8:30 which is great because Wednesday will be a LONG day.
The usual routine, breakfast and when Jameson went to the gym I practiced. When he came back I went to the grocery for dinner ingredients, packed my meals for Epic tomorrow, and cleaned the bathrooms. Rested for a bit after that, then visited a different tailor about shortening my bag strap and he was able to do it while we chatted. My hero.
Back home I made dinner (Half-Baked Harvest sweet potato skins filled with spicy turkey, white cheddar, spinach, avocado) and chilled as much as I could.
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Wednesday was the Grand Opening at Epic Universe.
If you missed the livestream, here it is:
Up at 5am, started driving at 6:45, got good parking at 7:30.
Past security is the countdown clock. Here I am in front of it back in March:
...and here it is today. One day left. Wow!
Got into makeup and warmed up with the boys. Our first set was supposed to be at 9:30, but at 8:30 management came RUSHING in saying they needed us in costume and out there NOW.
So off we went. The cart had already been placed for us so we got into position for our first number and played it as a sound check. Then a short wait, then the media showed up so we launched into the top of our set.
We’d been asked to just play the first song again, but at the end of it we looked up and saw both stage manager and cameraman making the “keep rolling” gesture, so we kept going. And going, and going, until we’d finished a set. And then we restarted and played the top again! But after that they were done with us.
Later on we found out they’d only used about 8 seconds of footage, and it was all dialogue, no playing. Here it is (please excuse Mariah screaming in the background, she caught the footage and was excited)
Entertainment is so weird :p
It was, overall, a media day. No guests, just news outlets and streamers and influencers. Therefore when we went out for sets, it was a sea of cameras. Not just phone cameras: big expensive news cameras on stabilizers, high-fidelity cameras with huge $15,000 Canon lenses, fancy mics…one guy even got a boom mic over our heads during dialogue!
During the percussion number the media SWARMED Plume. Our poor handlers had to jump in and politely but firmly force people back. We are behind the cart during that bit and can’t really help. But no one was excessively rude and the excitement was understandable. Overall I think we handled it really well. I’m especially proud of myself for not having a panic attack (very common for me when lots of eyes are on me.)
We had two large breaks. I used the first one to practice bass, and the second to type this post and listen to music for the upcoming Chicago gig I’m dreading. And read my book :)
(The stairwell where I practice sometimes, when the warm-up room is occupied. Do not repost.)
I guess there were celebrities around, including the actors who played the Weasley twins and Professor Flitwick. I heard that Danny Elfman and Gerard Butler were around, and a retired basketball player of some notoriety. I don’t keep up on pop culture so didn’t much care, but it’s nice that the park is getting a high-profile opening.
(photo courtesy disneyfoodblog)
The evening sets were nice because the sun wasn't beating down and there was a breeze, but it was still very hot and humid. We had a few logistics snafus because this was the "gala" portion of the evening, and several food stalls were set up in our performance space that had to be moved. Still, this is all standard special event chaos. We did our set, and mostly got polite applause, but at that point people were too busy eating, drinking, and taking footage to actually interact with us.
We finished up just ahead of the fireworks, which was good because our land was in the fallout zone and they wanted us either out of the building or on lockdown by 9:45. I packed up quickly and got out of there, but enjoyed watching the Stardust Racers looping gracefully around each other, all lit up.
Here is the opening ceremony from the ground:
And I wanted to share what the lighting looks like with an aerial view as well. It's truly incredible!!
This person got test footage while staying in one of the hotels.
Whew. Long day! But it was an exciting privilege to be a part of a WHOLE NEW theme park's grand opening!
I was here from (almost) the beginning. We saw the Wizarding World being built around us. We have already spent more time in our part of the park than most people will in their lifetimes. Although my own experience is, frankly, overshadowed by the work I've found with Disney, it is still an incredibly special thing to be here in this moment. I have memories here that are an absolute treasure.
Although I couldn't find much footage of our trio by the end of the day, I'm sure it'll be forthcoming in the next few days. And tomorrow is the true Opening Day, when guests have full access to the fully open park for the first time. This park will change the theme park scene in Orlando--and possibly across the country--forever.
(youtube screenshot)
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Thursday: Day off. I'm returning my trombone mutes, resting, and preparing for a VERY CHAOTIC DAY at Epic Universe on Friday.
Friday: Work at Epic. Thoughts and prayers because it'll probably be batsh*t insane.
Saturday: Orlando Fringe with Jameson and friends!!
Sunday: Day off and I suspect I'll need it.
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Thursday: Painting Titles
May. 22nd, 2025 12:44 amIf you're interested in being a Thursday/Thursday guest host, you can sign up here. Thanks! These are the currently available dates:
May 27 & 29
June 3 & 5
June 10 & 12
June 17 & 19
Today's theme is painting titles. Much like Tuesday's theme, I struggled with how to describe this. Just prompt a painting title and writer, you are free to interpret the prompt as you want.
Just a few rules:
No more than five prompts in a row.
No more than three prompts in the same fandom.
Use the character's full names and the fandom's full name
No spoilers in prompts for a month after airing, or use the spoiler cut option found here. Unfortunately, DW doesn’t have a cut tag, so use your best judgment when it comes to spoilers.
If your fill contains spoilers, warn and leave plenty of space, or use the above-mentioned spoiler cut.
Prompts should be formatted as follows: [Use the character's full names and fandom's full name]
Fandom, Character +/ Character, Prompt
Some examples to get the ball rolling...
+ any, any, Long Point by Robert Genn
+ any, any, Whistler's Mother by James McNeill Whistler
+ any, any, The Kiss by Gustav Klimt
We are now using AO3 to bookmark filled prompts. If you fill a prompt and post it to AO3 please add it to the Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2024 collection. See further notes on this new option here.
Not feeling any of today’s prompts? You can use LJ’s advanced search options to limit keyword results to only comments in this community. Fret not, DW members; we are working on a way to search through old entries for prompts for you! As of right now, the best way to search for a lonely prompt on DW is to search the community’s archive, which can be found [[HERE]].
While the use of LJ's advanced search and DW’s archive are options, bookmarking the links of prompts you like might work better for searching in the future.
As a friendly reminder about our schedule, Lonely Prompts and sharing completed fills are encouraged on Sundays, while new themes and prompts are posted on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Saturdays are a Free for All day. We'll share our posts on DW and LJ for everyone's convenience. Keep an eye out for notifications!
If you have a Dreamwidth account and would feel more comfortable participating there, please feel free to do so…and spread the word!
tag=painting titles