November At-A-Glance

Though I'm certain that anyone who once read my blog has long since left it for dead since I appear to have abondoned it weeks ago, I'm going to attempt to get back on track. So here goes a quick run down of November picking up where I left off (voting day). November was a busy month for singing. The 2nd week of November I had something for Singers nearly every night starting on Monday evening with a little "gig" at the Alta Club downtown. About 12 of us from Singers put on a little holiday program for a private party at the club. For singing only a 20 minute program we got paid quite well. Easy money!

Tuesday night was normal SLCA rehearsal. Wednesday night was our first rehearsal with the Grammy Award winning Kronos Quartet, with whom we would be performing Sun Rings at Kingsbury Hall. Sun Rings is a multimedia piece commissioned for the Kronos quartet by NASA featuring sounds recorded from space. The rehearsal went really well and we finished early. The first violinist later emailed the composer and told him that out of over a hundred times that they're performed his work, we were the best choir they had ever performed with. The next afternoon we had a quick sound check and then the concert that evening. Here is a YouTube video promoting the concert (though the clips are old, the cellist is a different guy now).




Here is a picture of us in the orchestra pit before the concert.

After the performance (which went off without a hitch) there was a special reception held for the Quartet and the Singers upstairs. We got to meet and talk with the players and take some pictures with them.


They seemed very keen on the idea of future collaborations with us so we'll see what happens. I would certainly welcome it as they are phenomenal musicians! I won't call that easy money, because that was hard (and weird) music to learn, but it was money none the less! More than that it was a great experience to work with a group of world renowned professional musicians.

That weekend kicked off the first of 3 weekends in a row that I'd have to work. The next week was one of the busiest and most stressful weeks I've had in a LONG time. I don't think I got to bed before 2am a single night that whole week. I had volunteered to make a DVD presentation for YW in Excellence combining video clips and pictures of all the activities we've done done this year, set to music and burned for each girl and leader to have a copy. Needless to say it was a LOT of work to put together and of course I lost my work and had to start over on it at the beginning of the week. Monday night Layne and I went to the Suns/Jazz game at Energy Solutions Arena. While we lost, and the game couldn't have been on a less convenient night, we had a good time. Tuesday night was rehearsal and again I came home and stayed up till 2 working on the DVD. Wednesday afternoon was our first rehearsal with the U Phil. for the annual Scholarship concert. I spent the morning hours doing everything I could to burn 30 DVDs. Of course our burning software was giving me errors. It was a nightmare. Layne called me telling me that they had had a massive layoff at work and out of respect for those laid off, they were closing the plant and sending everyone home for the day. Fortunately for us, Layne was not among the poor folks who were canned, but it still shook everyone up.

It was actually a blessing in disguise because once I got the burner working, he was able to take over burning for me while I went to work. Thank goodness for Layne! If it weren't for him, I never would have been ready for YW in Excellence. As it was I got home with barely enough time to change and go to the church to set up. The evening was a success and everyone really liked the video. PHEW!

Thursday afternoon we had another dress rehearsal and Thursday night was the first concert. We performed Beethoven's Choral Fantasy and Holst's The Planets. I really liked both peices though this year's concert certainly featured more orchestra than choir, which was FINE WITH ME! Friday night was the second concert which went even better than the first night so everyone was pleased.

Saturday morning, Dani picked me up and we went to see Twilight. The girls were absolutely insistant that we all see it so we could discuss. It was exactly what I thought it would be. I maintain that the casting was the most important part of the moive. They got some right, but they got some wrong. I won't go into detail. It was fun to go out with the girls though. That afternoon I had a meeting with my website design team at Dr. Allred's house which was productive.

The week of Thanksgiving was extremely busy at work as we had a deadline to ship arrays to Germany BEFORE Thanksgiving and all the responsibility for it was on me. That's just the way it works out sometimes. All of us on the production team have certain "expertise's" which means that certain steps of the array manufacture process and testing are fully one person's responsibility. This particular week all the steps happened to be my area so I worked a lot of over time AND over Thanksgiving weekend, but I managed to get my shipment out on time (by no small miracle). Layne and I had Thanksgiving dinner with the McLaws family at Emily & Loy's house. It was a great feast and good company! That evening I got to attend a bridal shower for my dear friend Nedra who was in town to spend Thanksgiving with her fiance's family. It was a lot of fun. Friday night we went out to dinner with Nedra and Matt and had a great time getting to know him. We love him Nedra! Two thumbs way up!!

And there you have November!