We did it. We made it through Friday the 13th without any major concert mishaps. Nobody was sick, I broke no reeds, the concert was excellent (for everyone involved, we weren't the only ones on the program) and we had a good time out afterward.
I'm not superstitious. I do, however, believe that the superstitions of others tends to make them more on-edge on days like today, causing the very problems they seek to avoid. As I blithely walk under ladders, crack makeup mirrors, spill salt as well as everything else, and the world does not end.
Let me go back. Work was no problem today. Some people still seems out of sorts from the problems early in the week, and some people still seem to expect me to bump into walls and fall down and stuff. But I cleared out of work, got over to Maureen's about 5:30 (which was a major miracle, as there was an accident that was backed up halfway back to Buffalo Grove), and changed, and after Jenny and Mary-Therese arrived we all went over, found Daniel, warmed up, and did the concert. The hall was about half-full, perhaps 200 people (I'm not good at guessing at counts), and they were enthusiastic. There was a string quartet that followed us, and then a brass ensemble that seemed to have packed the audience with their fans.
Daniel seemed most on edge about it. We were, after all, performing his work, and he's starting to think about getting accepted into a doctoral program somewhere and concert performances of his transcriptions and arrangements may help. But there was nothing to worry about. Things went well, they recorded it and we'll get the tapes later, and nothing bad happened at all.
On to the next phase. After the brass ensemble, we all went over to this sort of fern-bar sort of place a few blocks over and met some people Daniel knew who had been in the audience. We took over several tables and stayed for quite a long time. Big news: Daniel and Maureen are "out of the closet" if you will. Apparently the thing with Elsa is over, and they were within about three inches of each other all night. Complete public-display-of-affection and everything. Mary-Therese got to ask the question that we've all wanted to know since December, and sure enough, yes, they've been spending a lot of time with each other and figured that they shouldn't let us know because they weren't sure how we'd "react." Mary-Therese, the perfect diplomat, didn't bother mentioning that we'd pretty much known for three months.
All right, they seem pretty happy. Apparently they spent a lot of time with each other this past weekend because Daniel was stuck at Maureen's house. The way Maureen told it, it sounded like he probably could have gotten home if he'd wanted to, he just didn't... want to.
Surprising how that works out, isn't it?
Well, we all agreed that it doesn't seem to have turned the quintet into a soap opera (we've all seen that happen) and they seemed to loosen right up.
And yes, I guess I'm sort of envious. One of Daniel's friends, this Chinese pianist named Denny (have you ever noticed how Asian students take on "American" nicknames when they come to the United States to study? I think I would have no problem pronouncing "Hsun Yee," which I think is what his "real" name was) was sort of flirting with me, but I'm sorry, he had one really nasty-looking front tooth and was about 5'3". And he sort of laughed like Woody Woodpecker.
Ok, everyone tell me I'm being too picky. I'm 30, I'm tired, and I just want to stay home and read.
Except when I want to go out.
Midnight came and went, and we went through the Friday the 13th with no sorrow.
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