Not a Confidence Builder

First chorus rehearsal for Iolanthe tonight. I had highlighted my part during lunch, but even with that, the score is such a mess that I got lost a lot. I sing bass, and in an ideal world, the score has lines for sopranos, altos, tenors and baritone/basses which are on the same line on every page. But top save space, this score will completely drop the bass line when all the men sing the same part (or the same two parts). An it will drop the alto line when all the women sing the same part or two.

So it's like following state highway signs while going back and forth between state lines.

And it did not help that I have been lazy and spent minimal time listening to the recording with the score in front of me. I've never seen the show, and only started playing the CD a month ago.

Some of the chorus has done the show two or three times before, so I'm covered, sort of.

The vocal director's style didn't help, either. He jumped right in at full speed, picking bits and pieces to rehearse. I think we only sang one song all the way through, once. He also is already giving us directions on how to emphasize certain syllables,which is usually a fine tuning thing done later in the process. He's not the best, but far from the worst music director I've had.

Apparently we also were missing some men. Considering how long ago auditions were, I would not be surprised people have dropped out.

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Not much to do at work, except my weekly report for last week, which I did not do Friday because dishwasher. Got a video to test, which was good, but again it's a 4k which I don't have a player for.

Took some time out to phone my Baltimore sister. A few months ago she transferred to Owings Mills, near her home, from an office next door to the CVS which was on fire this morning. She says her former co-workers were sent home early, but had she been working there she would have not gone in at all, because the buses and trains are not particularly safe from gang warfare at a time like this.

Rehearsal call was 8:30, but it is in the opposite direction from home, so I stayed at the office reading a novel till 7:30, but by then traffic was light and I was at the rehearsal hall in 8 minutes.

Hung around the green room till we were called.

Plans for tomorrow:
Work
Staples, try to exchange the sodastream carbonator
Study the score

Do It For The Children

Donate now

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That sleep numbah bed seems to be working. Slept all the way from 2 am to 6:30 without my usual two or three pee breaks. But then again, some of that has to do wit better blood sugar levels.

Got a follow-up call from sleep number, told her (she had a STRONG Minnesota accent) that the installers were 5-star, and my only question is why the SleepIQ feature shows the same activity for the side I am not sleeping on as for the side I am using. She said I could turn off data collection for the other side, but the instructions she gave were wrong. I think I found a way using the web connection. Definitely cannot do it with the remote, which is all or nothing.

Work was interesting. I was thrown an issue from months ago on the old product which a customer was waiting to have fixed. The bug tracker said it was fixed a long time ago, but it was not in the notes we get with each build. And it was a very one-off issue. Took me an hour to figure out how to reproduce it. Bottom line is it was fixed, so I updated the bug tracker.

Lunchtime started at Staples, which had Sodastream cartridges to exchange. Totally forgot that I also needed index tabs for my script.

Back toward work, which was dumb because there were better places to eat near Staples, had a burger at Carl's.

Most of the afternoon I ad hoc tested HEVC, looping out one port and in another.

Home, sat on the porch in the canopy chair. The sun shade works fine, but the chair is poorly designed, difficult to get out of. Went online looking for a replacement and found some, but they are all "zero gravity" which is hard to get out of because of the shape.

UK cousins who put me up while I was in London are planning to visit this summer, and are under the impression they are staying with me. I have a sofabed in the livingroom, but nothing in the 3rd bedroom, so I looked for futons. Prices are ridiculous.

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So today the Supes heard arguments for/against gay marriage. I'm against the government having anything to do with marriage, so this whole thing irks me. Marriage ought to be a personal decision, with no tax advantages, no government interference. Anyone should be allowed to marry anyone else, and let Darwin decide the rest.

But something which galls me is seeing Gavin Newsom, pretty boy former SF mayor and current (WTFOMGBBQ) Lt. Governor, who fucked his aide's wife and forced his aide to resign, playing poster boy for any kind of marriage, let alone gay marriage.

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In other news, I spent some time with the Iolanthe score, trying to memorize the opening song. Impossible to do on my own. The next song we just repeat one line of what the Lord Chancellor sings.

Plans for tomorrow:
Work
Iolanthe reheasals