So every year as the school year winds down, my schedule starts getting more hectic. What added to the situation this year was a Judo Chop gig scheduled the same weekend as not only my own private studio recital, but Nancy’s KTC end-of-year performance as well.
So, on Saturday I got up early (for me) and prepared for my recital. I guess I was working from about 11 - 2:30, then immediately hopped on the road to head out to West VA. Apparently this part of West VA required me to drive through Maryland first. The drive was actually rather pretty, although long — 4 hours or so. When I got there, I had to drive down this winding road to the Golf Club where the wedding was actually being held. My GPS couldn’t even find the road so I was following some shady directions. What I first noticed was that the entire trip down… about 1/4 of a mile, was lined with white bags with candles in them. When I got there, they valet parked my car for me, and I noticed the gorgeous layout. They must have spent some serious coin on that wedding. Here are some pics:
Anyway, we were contracted to play from 8 - 12, and we just BARELY got everything set up and sound checked by 7:45. The brother of the bride wanted us to play during their dinner, but seeing as we were only like 15 feet away from the nearest table, that would have been the worst idea ever. So, we waited. And waited. And waited. We took advantage of the free food (delicious!) and open bar (kinda… i had to drive back afterall), and finally went on at around 10:00 PM. Our 2 hour set was done lickity split, and then we were packed up by 1.
The ride home was very lonely and tiring. I left at 1, rolled in at around 4:45 AM. I must have been the only car on the very dark highway for at least 100 miles. For the first time ever I actually pulled over to the side of the road for a power nap. Yelena woke me up from that with a phone call… Yelena being the only one that would actually be awake at 3:30 AM. She kept me awake for another 45 minutes, which was enough for me to slog my way home. Phew!
Then Sunday I woke up at 10:00 to head on out to Nancy’s studio recital which went from 12 - 5 (plus set up time). My students played well, and I was happy with their performances. Then I sat in on guitar for all the other kids (it was a pop performance. The kids played their music while being backed by a band… aka, us). 5 hours of guitar playing will hurt your wrist, no matter how simple the music!
Like I said, long, long weekend. I survived though.
oh yeah, and I was pulled over on the way to WV. Blech.
