hardcore

My day so far:

• midnight: go to bed
• 1:30 get up; pace; go back to bed
• 3 get up; pace; go back to bed
• 4 get up for real
• 4:30 bike to the church (N.B. It was snowing. There was an inch or so on the ground, and more was falling. It wasn't enough to make conditions really dangerous, or to pose any major inconvenience; but it was enough to make me feel like a complete badass for biking through it)
• 4:45 warm up in choir room
• 5 venture into the nave, overcoming my irrational fear of going in there alone in the dead of night when it's pitch dark by reassuring myself that Matteusz would be there with some kind of light.
• 5:01 realize that M was in fact not there
• 5:02 debate going back to the choir room where I know for sure there are no monsters; instead go up to the balcony to get a music stand. It may be dark up there too, and there may be a pigeon skeleton on one of the window ledges in the staircase, but at least I know where the light switch is up there.
• 5:03 M arrives, having been waiting for me outside (doh!); help him with last bits of setup; do soundcheck
• 5:15 take off sneakers so they don't squeak when I shift my weight
• 5:16 realize that this means I'm going to be standing in my socks on a frigid marble floor for three hours
• 5:17 try to stand on the cuffs of my overlong jeans
• 5:18 give up and comfort myself with thoughts of what a badass I am
• 5:30 start doing real takes
• 5:45 realize that the frequency of the sound the cars make driving past on the slushy streets overlaps with my sound in such a way as to make it impossible to edit out
• 6 start first take of heartrending Armenian piece (Stabat Mater equivalent)
• 6:02 bus pulls up at stoplight outside church, during poignant silence between phrases
• 6:03 light changes, bus leaves
• 6:04 begin second take
• 6:05 garbage truck arrives at restaurant across street, in middle of thrillingly modal run
• 6:07 garbage truck leaves
• 6:08 begin third take
• 6:09 first emergency vehicle of the day goes by; consider editing piece so that Mary, instead of saying "Oh Jesus, my son, the light of my eyes, would God I could die for thee," says "Hurry up and die already!"
• 7 the bells chime the hour; while we're waiting for them to hush up, M asks if I need a break, and offers to bring me something hot to drink from the restaurant across the street. I decline, feeling like more of a baadass than ever
• 7:30 M asks if I'm sure I don't want some coffee; I decline again
• 8 finish, at the same time as my voice quits, give or take a song
• 8:10 help M load his gear into his car
• 8:15 take M out for coffee
• 9 go back to bed, still gloating about being a badass