Probed

In local community theater, for reasons which defy logic and good taste, the first time the cast rehearses with the orchestra is called a "sitzprobe". The theory being we all sit and probe deeply into the music. We had one today at the middle school in which the conductor works. It's in one of the most affluent districts in silicon valley, but I was still surprised to see on the rack just past the door about 8 baritone horns and a few tubas. My high school had maybe 3 baritones and 1 or 2 tubas.

The rehearsal was mostly for the benefit of the orchestra, as was intended. The conductor was very good about pointing out that with the chorus behind them, they really needed to play more quietly. Luckily most of our leading characters have strong legit opera voices, and can be heard above the din.

They were okay. Too many strings, not always in tune, and IMHO not enough brass. Percussion was excellent.

Mon-Wed we are back to the usual rehearsal space, doing run-throughs. Thursday the orchestra joins us there. Friday we have a dress rehearsal in the theater - we're performing in a Sunnyvale high school, named Fremont High. Which is confusing because Fremont is a city on the other side of the bay. There is no Sunnyvale High School and Fremont doesn't have a Fremont High school. The Sunnyvale one is named for the street it is on, which is named for a famous ( Read more... )

We rehearsed for two hours, then the men of the chorus were set free.

I took the scenic route home, planning on stopping at a Starbucks on the way, only to find the space occupied by a Nick The Greek's.  Bummer. There is an Orchard Supply in that shopping center, and I went looking for things to plant but found nothing that looked like it would survive except cactus. I don't do cactus.

This morning at the crack of 10, I called the company which did my porch carpet and left a message a bout painting the house. Got a callback around 11,
 and the nice man will visit Monday at around 10 am. Looking at the house, I know I want to change all the trim from dark brown to something lighter, a light blue or aqua. And probably have the main structure done in a single color instead of two shades. We'll talk about other repairs as well.

Home, did a lot of Python. Found out how to time stamp a line in a log file. Built a program which pinged every possible IP address in my home network and wrote a file saying which ones were online and which were not. And played more with catching exceptions.

Late lunch was a baloney sandwich. Dinner was some batter fried wings and veggies. I shot up too much insulin and was forced to suffer through a Klondike bar and two popsicles to recover.

Politics. Hillary's choice of Tim Kaine is almost a carbon copy of Joe Biden. Except Joe isn't fluent in Spanish and was never a governor. I think it was a mistake for her to choose another white Southerner, and a devout Catholic who has publicly stated he is opposed to abortion (though he says he favors a woman's right to choose that sin). I'll wait till the convention is over, and see whether Bernie sticks around or if he goes back to being non-partisan.

Plans for tomorrow:
Nothing. Homework is done, no rehearsals.
Maybe see a movie.