Japanese Festival is over. This is now sort of the beginning of the next taiko year, and in a few weeks, the beginner class will start.
The weather for the festival was absolutely wonderful. It was sunshiny and breezy and not too hot. It was cheerful, and beautiful...and I was horribly sick. My un-favorite sick: the infected head. My eyes were bugging and watery, by sinuses filled to bursting with slime, my throat was raw and swollen, nose runny and also swollen. Lots of swelling going on. I could see my swollen glands in the mirror, they were so big. I guess it sort of all evened out. Nice weather, but sick.
Laura was the first to be sick, and then Melanie, and then me. At J-Fest, several others started to feel bad, too, but we were all hoping that it maybe was an obscure allergy or something.
I really started the J-Fest adventure on Friday. Grant came home from school and my mom piled the kids and Jake into her car and took them to Rolla. Then Josh and I rushed to the Botanical Gardens, where he dropped me off. Then he (along with a huge suitcase for me) went to his grandmother's house for the night.
The spiking rehearsal was very complicated and time consuming. Eventually it got done, but nothing was practiced. After practice, Eddie kindly dropped me at Grandma Mroczkowski's house.
The morning began the official Day 1 of F-Fest, and I woke up feeling even sicker. But I must be an Opening Night kind of girl. I spent a lot of the day in the Dashi letting kids play on the drums. It was a lot of fun. I also found out that my sunscreen and myself were a particularly bad mix. It didn't really work the way I used it, and I did get a burn. The opening ceremony was actually my very first one, since last year's was rained out. We played well, I think, and had a good time. Our great friend Megan came all the way from Louisiana! Great to see her. I went back to the maintenance building (after more fun in the Dashi) and straightened my hair and got all costumed up. Then.....the first show! I was smiling hugely and having a ton of fun...right until the intro section to Hiryuu San-dan Gaeshi. I sit still for a long time, and besides watching mosquitoes land on my arms and feet and not being able to shoo them away, I had time to realize how tired and sick I was. My playing was very not great. Well, to be more specific, I didn't miss any hits, but I did have terrible and even wrong-looking arm movements. I was embarrassed. But I do have a little bit of a break after that, and pulled myself together for the rest of the show. A friend from college, John, came to see the show, and I got to see him and meet his girlfriend and everything. It made my day when he came up afterward to say hi.
The rest of the shows were similar. My energy wasn't as great as the first night, but neither were my screw-ups as noticeable. I hear rumors that I had another friend and a cousin in the audiences, but they didn't come up to say hi. Josh did come to the early show on Sunday, but he didn't even stay to the end. I confess that I was a little hurt by that. My biggest show of the whole year - I was in almost every main song - and my parents didn't come, my kids didn't come, and my husband left half-way through.
Well, I got more and more sick, but slogged on, and I think the shows went pretty well. The drum movement problems never really ended, but we got faster at making up for the people who couldn't remember what to do.
I stayed the first night with Josh at his grandmother's house again, and the second night I stayed with Helena and Kevin. they have the sweetest cats. How did they find two snuggly, people friendly cats?
On Monday, I ended up with some time before the show, and did a tiny bit of shopping. I had wanted to buy more tabi socks, but they were sold out. I bought beautiful chopsticks for Grant and Abbie, and a dangling Buddha for Eddie, as a thank you for driving me around. I was actually going to get him a silly looking owl one, but when the lady found out I was buying it for a grown man, she really recommended against the owl. Oh, well. And I got my mom a sakura pin (that she probably didn't want) for watching the kids all weekend.
Eddie dropped me off - sick, sweaty and exhausted - at the mall, where Josh was book shopping. I waited for him to get done, and we drove home. The kids were supposed to meet us there at 6:30, but my mom called and said that they were running horribly late and had had to stop for emergency potty breaks and the dog almost got away.... One of those days. While we waited, Josh and I watched a few minutes of Twilight: New Moon. I gotta say....it's TERRIBLE! And I know I have some cousins who really worship Kristin Stewart, but either she is totally wrong for this role, or she can't act. It is impossible to sympathize with her and she is snotty an irritating, even in the parts where she's supposed to come of as sweet. I was just waiting to see what would happen if that same crew from the first movie came up with a budget, but it still had a soap opera sort of look to it. The music was better, but the writer still took liberties with the dialog that lost Twilight one of its few charms. I don't even know if I'm ever going to finish watching it. Then the kids came home, and my attention was all for them. Abbie was especially homesick on Monday.
When I was putting Abbie to bed, it came to my attention that my mom had shown them The Incredibles. I've never let them watch that. Too much violence, and too much sibling snottiness. I was upset. I came out after she was asleep and told Josh, who then informed me that he didn't have the energy to comfort me. I had just spent the weekend doing very physical shows, loading and unloading, getting no sleep at other people's houses AND I did it sick. But he doesn't have the energy. I totally wanted to poke him in the eye. Instead...I went to bed. In my own bed. Finally.
But it wasn't over!
Yesterday I babysat again. The day was actually not as crazy as I had thought. Abbie's dance class opened for registration, and I thought I was going to have to rush to the store and buy a leotard, then come back and make dinner and then somehow get Abbie to dance lessons. That was wrong. I called the place, and since she is going to be in the Monday class, I don't have to register until next Monday. WHEW! But I did have to babysit, and I do again today.
I'm curious. How many weeks in a row am I going to be babysitting? I was under the impression that last week was the end. Then, she forgot to pay me on Thursday and said, "Oh, I'll just bring it next time. Are Tuesday and Wednesday alright?"
Yesterday I decided that I was getting better. Today I'm not so sure. I think I'm just progressing. In a way, it's getting me closer to the end, but I think using the word "better" might be a little optimistic - even for me.
I need a day in bed. Badly. But it's not in the cards. I'm about to go and shower (I hope) and do a quick housecleaning for the girls. After they go, I'm going to have to go grocery shopping. You see...it never ends. But I'm definitely penciling in a nap on Thursday!!! Ho-ho!
Hope you are all having a good Wednesday. You should have lunch outside. It's going to be beautiful!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment