Sleep In Day... (s)

Man, I slept in today for the first time in over a month. Well, I slept until about the normal time that I get up, and then stayed in bed reading until about 11:00. Sort of the same thing, I guess. Anyways, it sure is nice to have two days off in a row! It kind of lets you reclaim your life, in some respects. I've been doing the scheduling for the Garden Centre, and because of the labor shortage in Alberta, I've been vary proactive in ensuring that the staff that work for me and getting their time off. However, that has meant that I have to sacrifice my time off to make it work. Any day that I take off, I have had to work at the University. Not that teaching trombone is work for me, but the point is that I have not actually had time off to do what I wanted, even if it is just to read for a while and practice for a few hours and not feel guilty about doing it!

I drove Megs to the Calgary Airport on Saturday, so she could fly to see her family for two weeks. It should be a good vacation for her, since she takes about as much time off as I do! I didn't really want to get up that early (4:00 am!) but we made it back to Lethbridge by 10:00, so I could basically have the day to myself at that point, so it worked out well. It gave me time to nap and practice a bit before the Big Band gig I played in the evening. Man, those gigs are long when there is no one dancing! It was a fundraiser for the MS Society, done in the fashion of the cabarets that I used to help plan for the U of L Wind Orchestra. However, I believe they were charging too much for their tickets ($50.00 per couple, I believe), and were not offering enough to justify the cost. I understand it is a fundraiser, but for that money, people want some sort of return. Anyways, there wasn't more than 75 people there at the busiest time, and the majority were sitting around talking, and looking like they didn't know what to do with themselves. Seeing events happen like this sure makes me proud of the success that the Wind Orchestra has had with their Big Band Cabaret.

One thing that I think they did well, and that perhaps we can "borrow" for the next cabaret, was that they offered dance lessons before the start of the band! About an hour before we arrived to play, they had swing music pumped over a sound system, and volunteers from one of the dance studios wandering the dance floor giving lessons to the couples. It was a great idea, and I think it would work even better with the crowd that the U of L W/O gets at their cabaret, since the crowd last night wasn't really putting their lessons to use! It is certainly something for them to consider in their planning stages for the coming year. (Hint, hint... for those planning the cab that are reading this...)

Anyways, I'm going to go enjoy my second day off, and practice for a while, and perhaps figure out some music for my recital this coming year. Maybe even plan out some music to acquire for my quintet for the next year. Any suggestions on that would be appreciated...