post-“busy week” update

As some may have seen on Twitter, I was in a lot of concerts this last weekend. I’ve also been busy since. Here’s how it went.

The day after moving back to the Central Coast, my mom calls up begging me to fill-in for some people that left the handbell choir that my dad conducts and my mom rings with. I decide that it can’t be that bad and so I say “yes”. Well, I honestly had no clue what I was getting into. Four practices and I found myself 1 week and 1 day later playing the first of four concerts over the weekend. I did alright. I only fouled up one song and it was easily masked by all that’s going on. I’ll get back to what exactly this concert is in a second. As we are putting the bells away, I wonder aloud, “Why do we really need to put the bells away if we are just going to use them again tomorrow?” The answer, “Because we’re moving them tonight.” That’s when I find out that I’m playing for my church in the morning. Now I’m up to five concerts in that weekend. Needless to say, pretty tiring.

Ok, an explanation about what this concert is. My dad conducts a pretty good sized choir at one of the local churches. He started this fall, but has played bassoon with them in the past. They put on a few productions each year that feature the choir and full orchestra. This year, my dad’s handbell choir from a different church was brought in as well. There was only one song that actually used all three together, but the whole program was pretty amazing. There was one concert Friday night, one Saturday night and two on Sunday. By the end of the last one, I was very done.

It gets better though! The next morning I have to get up early and setup sound at the school my parents teach at for the primary school kids’ rehearsal. That takes all morning. Same thing the next morning. Tuesday evening we had the concert and that makes 6 concerts in 5 days. I’m just glad I didn’t have to perform up front for the last one.

Since then, I’ve been prepping computers for the 1st&2nd grade classroom so they can get the kids started on proper typing skills. Pretty stress-less work. My agenda includes two more handbell-only concerts for their home church on Sunday and then off to the grandparents’ for Christmas on Tuesday. Can’t wait. Good food, wood fire and a relaxing atmosphere. Oh, can’t forget the biggest broadband connection I’ve ever accessed in a house. 10+Mbps!

Have a Merry Christmas all!