Rainbows Are Squishy: Crazy, Crazy Weekend

So this week was pretty relaxed for the both of us. Stephen has been subbing more and more regularly once he realized that he actually has to answer the phone when the automated sub system calls. Because of that, he actually subbed for three days this week, and then he took Friday off because he had drill over the weekend.

Me, I'm not sure what I did all week. I worked. What else is new?

I think we went surfing on Wednesday after my karate class. The seasons are changing, so there are slowly fewer and fewer good surf days on our side of the island.

We both had a crazy weekend, so I guess that's where all the excitement happens.

Saturday was the Merrie Monarch parade. We get invited to go every year, but it's part of a Hawaiian festival started by King David Kalakaua honoring Hawaiian traditions, hula, song, and art. Logistics were a nightmare, so I ended up waking up at 2am so I could make a 3:20am muster time. We showed up at the airport before any of the terminals opened and wondered if the whole system would blow up, because at exactly 3:45am, all of Navy Band Pacific Fleet would put their cards in the terminals and try to log in to our flights.

No such disaster happened. I think we were all disappointed that it went so smoothly.

I slept on the plane. Scratch that, I went comatose on the plane. I fell asleep so hard that I had one of those moments where my whole upper body fell forward. Everybody else was asleep, too, so it's not like anyone noticed.

We got to Hilo around 6am and got picked up by our sponsor. We went to Ken's House of Pancakes and got breakfast. I'll say, a veggie omelet never tasted so good, and coffee was never more welcome. We were done with breakfast by 7:30 and shuttled over to our changing area. They wanted us changed by 9am. Okay, so we had an hour and a half to kill, so a friend and I went for a walk around the premises (mostly because we were both bloated and gassy from the early wake-up and flight, but shhhhhhhh...)

We were changed by 9am, but the parade didn't start until 10:30am. So we lounged around in our whites, practicing and sleeping on park benches. Classy.

We did the parade. I guess last year's was more hostile, because this year they have the Mauna Kea observatory to protest vehemently, but still... If ever I felt like we didn't belong, this was it. I was never met both with so much aloha from some people and so much disdain from others. We did get a debrief on what to do in case, oh, someone threw an egg at us. It was that kind of atmosphere.

In the end, we did the parade incident-free (that Mauna Kea observatory...), and then we proceeded to get lunch and were treated to a little thank-you hula. We got to the airport and took a 3pm flight home. Then we got our bags, got picked up and taken back to the band room, and then I drove home.

When I got home, it was about 4:30pm, and Stephen told me he had just received a call from someone in one of the community bands. A flute player was giving her masters recital that night, and the clarinet player who was supposed to play a piece with her had gotten food poisoning, so they were desperately looking for someone who could sightread the part on the recital. Somehow, they got far enough down the list that they called Stephen to try and reach me.

I didn't even know I was on a list.

If they actually called looking for me, that means they were desperate, so suddenly all exhaustion went out the window and I was like, yes, I can do it.

I can sightread a piece on a masters recital, and I'll have been up for 18 straight hours when I do the performance. I actually decided that I was too tired to be nervous, so it would be fine.

The flute player was going to be doing a sound check from 5:30 to 6:30, and the recital was at 7:30pm. By the time i got this information, though, it was already 5:00pm. Stephen cooked dinner while I took a 5 minute shower, threw on something resembling concert black, and made sure I had a clarinet and reeds all in the same case. I ate while Stephen drove.

We got there at 6, and we did two run-throughs of the piece. Then I had until about 7:15 to sit downstairs, woodshed the tricky parts, and listen to a YouTube video so I wouldn't miss that stupid transition at the end that threw me off in both runs. Then the recital started, and all I could do was wait until after intermission.

My performance wasn't perfect, but I knocked a few socks off some of the audience, and I made a few important contacts. As it turns out, the flute teacher was a graduate of North Texas, so we had that in common. She hooked me up with a repair person on the island who only works from recommendations and word-of-mouth. She also said they'd be calling me again. Woo, connections! I also connected with the director of bands at UH, and an appreciate audience member said that somebody needs to be kissing my a$$ right now.

I will play for food. I'll also play for connections.

By the time we got home, it was 10pm. What a long freaking day.

Stephen had to get up for drill again the next morning, and I have been on such a schedule that sleeping in didn't happen. I just hit the gym because I needed to do SOMETHING (and I have my physical readiness test on Tuesday) and then took a nap. When Stephen came home, we went surfing again. Why not?

We went to Flat Island this time, because there were no waves at Castles. The problem with Flat Island is that the paddling takes for-e-ver. It's a good 10 minutes of swimming without using your feet. It was also low tide, which meant that sometimes the water depth to the coral was only maybe knee-deep. Careful how you fall!

The waves there were so much more difficult for us to ride. I think it'll be a good stepping stone for us.

We don't have any pictures because apparently Stephen didn't charge the battery well, or because the camera got dirty and wasn't connecting. Ah well. You get the point. You stand up on a board as waves come crashing.

Today was also relaxing. We sanded down the pallet bench Stephen put together, and now it almost looks like a respectable piece of furniture. We're going to get one more pack of fine grit sandpaper to really take the last kinks out, and then we'll paint it. I'm pretty excited.

Then I got a facial in Kane'ohe from an awesome Thai lady. I would go back to her again. It was ridiculously relaxing. Then Stephen suggested either going to Sharks Cove to snorkel, or seeing if maybe Castles had good waves for surfing.

I really wanted to go to Sharks Cove.

So....

COMMENCE FISHY PICTURES!!!