7: Wednesday, Ugh. Thursday, Lights. Friday, Yay?

We were supposed to meet with Mr. L today to work on lighting for the show on Wednesday but we forgot to reconfirm with him and he forgot about our meeting so we rescheduled for Thursday. That just goes to show the importance of double checking everything, every step of the way. Thinking quickly so no time was wasted Rose and I started working on our final presentation. After we were done pretty much getting the outline for it done I started editing some of the songs I had recorded from prior rehearsals so we'd be able to use them for promotions. We also went out to do some in person publicity of our own. At the end of the day I called a contact that Brian gave us for a drummer and I called him. He said he could do it which is fantastic because we finally have a drummer!

Thursday became the new lights day, we had to be at school at 9:30 to meet Mr. L. 9:30 became 10:30 because Mr. L had a meeting. I got to school early so I started pulling more props for the show. Way back when in freshman year I audited stage craft and that is pretty much the only one on one interaction I've had with Hawken's lights. Lighting was long and kind of difficult. I'm the kind of person who needs limits. If I have too many options I'll spend all weighing the pros and cons of each option. We have a lot of options with our light board and because we knew so little about what we could do all we had in mind were moods and little ideas. It started out rough because the first song has so much going on but after a while we got in the grove. We took a break after lunch and when we came back we found the grove again. We hit a snag about 4 songs from the end so we decided to call it a day and we will finish lights tomorrow.

Friday was our first rehearsal actually in the auditorium. The hope was to do a mini run through so the cast would be able to get a feel of the space and internalize it while they sang their songs. This did not happen. How do you politely tell a group professional adults that they need to buckle down and get their stuff together? Ugh x 100000. To me, being late is a sin and I just knew the cast would be here first and we'd be stuck waiting for the band. To my surprise the band got to the school early and were set up and ready to go by 6 and we were stuck waiting for the cast. On top of that because there was a memorial service in the auditorium tomorrow, something we learned Thursday even though we reserved the auditorium last week, some of our light cues got messed up and we couldn't use the stage in the way that we wanted to. I'd been looking forward to this rehearsal all week thinking it would be the highlight of the week but I left it feeling annoyed. At least the band sounded great. Garry was awesome as always and Henry (playing bass) and Dylan (playing drums) were fantastic. Henry had only briefly looked at the music and Dylan just got the music that day. All together they totally made us sound way more professional. Now if only the cast was a good as them. That's showbiz, I guess.

Jaffe Update 5: Back in the US[SA]

<sidenote>
I know I haven't posted in a while (as is my duty as a member of this blogspot blog), and I am regret that you haven't gotten as many opportunities to read my wond'rous lit'rature. (I'm being sarcastic (as tone is hard to read).) To avoid potential problems, I'll update more often to make up for missed posts. If I cannot do this Ms. Samet, please let me know in a comment so I can save the effort.
</sidenote>

As this is a make-up update, I will post as though it were Monday.

Today (Monday), we rode from Oxford to a small town about halfway between Oxford and London called Tring, got onto a train, and rode via train to London. In our defense for this seemingly obvious violation of the spirit of our trip, we were really tired. Plus, upon closer inspection of my grandmother's and great-uncle's letters, they would frequently "hop on the lorrie" and skip a part of the ride, as a result of fatigue, just as Jacob and I experienced at this time. Plus, there was the whole thing where I got a flat and my brakes weren't really working anymore. Also, it was raining; although at this point it seems as though rain in Britain is the norm.

Overall, I'm simply quite tired. I've biked at least 370 miles over the past eight days. If I were actually typing this on Monday, I'd be doing so around 1 in the morning. Leisure time has been hard to find, and when I do find it, I want to actually do something, and not just relax; I want to use the time I have in the UK, in a foreign (yet somehow familiar) country, as much as possible. Yet I just don't have time to do both the resting that I need and the sight-seeing that I want. As I said in a previous post, I mostly wish I had more time. But more on that later.

Back at School...Again

The past few days have been busy, queuing lights with Mr. Larochelle, distributing posters, and more. We have been getting the auditorium ready to use for our performance, but that always comes with a few challenges.

1. We have to be on campus. While it's kind of nice to spend a little more time in Hawken's hallowed halls, it can feel kind of confined spending the majority of our time working in the dressing room.
2. Sharing the space. The auditorium is prime real estate during intensives, so we have had to compete for time during the school day. There is a freshman Greek Theater intensive where several groups are constantly jockeying for stage time. Luckily, working with Mr. Larochelle has gotten us priority for our lighting time. We finished queuing lights this afternoon, and it felt like quite the accomplishment. I am looking forward to our first onstage rehearsal tonight.
3. Reserving the space: In order to use the auditorium after school hours we have to reserve the space through Cheryl. This has actually gone very well, but we have to be careful to clean up very well, because there is an event tomorrow morning.

Largely, these challenges have turned out fine, and we are making excellent headway on all of our goals.

SOS

Bishop Cosgrove did not fail to amaze me once again today. I went through my typical routine in the morning, telling everyone good morning and then returned to the cafeteria to eat breakfast with the other volunteers. Today’s breakfast was exceptionally good because it was sausages and hash browns. As we were eating and talking as usual, there was a loud thud that hit the grown. We all turned our heads to the right of us and I couldn’t help but notice the man on the ground coughing up tremendous amounts of saliva. He was on his back and he was having a seizure! He fell so hard that he came out of one of his shoes. I have never seen a seizure once in my life but I manage to keep my cool because one of the officers named officer Lawson came and saved the day until the EMS trucks came to escort the gentleman out of here. The craziest part about it was that when this happened, other people in the cafeteria acknowledged it but they continued about their day as if this was normal! First it was the lady going into labor and now this, I guess a lot of these people have bigger problems to worry about.

5-26-14

Today was a typical day at the Cosgrove center. I usually come in in the mornings around eight and greet all the volunteers and workers with a warm good morning.  After my rounds of good mornings I eat breakfast with the people who have to come in and volunteer. Keep in mind that some of these volunteers are people who have to come to serve community service hours for a crime they committed and they are ordered to come in by the judge or these are people who have to work to get food stamps. So whenever I talk to these people I always here some very interesting stories and their views on life. I was talking to one of the volunteers named Ken and he was explaining to me what it was life like in prison since he spent a lot of time in and out of there. One of the first things that he told me was that prison is definitely a place where you do not want to go but it is not that bad how the media portrays it. The thing that Ken said that really stood out to me is when he told me that Prisons are starting to make themselves become a more comfortable environment so people do not want to leave. People tend to forget that prisons across America generate billions of dollars. He said they are giving out these devices called Jpeg 4s that can send messages and pictures and download music.

Endurance Work

Bill Bare runs GLSS, the team for which I am serving as an assistant coach.  Bare appointed coaches Tim and John as additional coaches to provide a strong foundation for what would eventually become one of the area’s top swim clubs.  I had the opportunity of meeting with Bare today, who introduced me to an app called Ubersense.  This app allows coaches to film their athletes beyond traditional video functions.  Ubersense can slow down the video, edit and trim the video, and even draw over the video, to highlight any problem areas the athlete might need to work on.  I was able to use this new app during the main set, 4 x 450 (18 lengths, four times) working on negative splitting and conditioning. 

“It’s about how fast can you go for how long.  And once you get tired, go faster.”  

~Tim

Caleb is a young swimmer who has trouble angling his hand to enter the water correctly while swimming freestyle.  It will take him a bit of time to get used to angling his hand in its proper position, since this is a technique Caleb developed when he first started swimming, but the goal is to have kids visually recognize what they need to work on with the help of Ubersense.

The draw tool lets you see problem areas more clearly.

All About the Money

            For the players, it’s all about the money.  That’s what it comes down to, and the agent’s job is to do everything in his power to make his clients more money.  While most of an athlete’s income comes from his contract, there is also lots of monetary opportunity in sponsorships, which is what Mr. Simms and I focused on today.  It was really interesting when we were talking about it because while we tend to think of these athletes as all being just super-rich, Mr. Simms explained that even at the highest level there are different socio-economic classes.  For example, players that are making multi-millions each year only tend to take sponsorships or do certain tasks like do a weekly call in to a radio show, for a significant amount of money.  On the other hand, there are many players who are making less than a million dollars a year who are willing to sign autographs for an hour for an extra thousand dollars, anything that will support their income.  Even though all NFL players are paid very handsomely, it’s still interesting to think that a lot of them feel they need to create additional income compared to others who don’t.  Mr. Simms explained that most players get sponsorships at places such as car dealerships or jewelry stores, and since he represents two players on the Cleveland Browns, he is looking for sponsorship opportunities for both players.  He asked me to compile a list of potential sponsorships for these players, which he will then be able to reach out to in the future and see if they can strike up a deal.

In the Kitchen

Today at Cedar Creek, I worked in the back of the restaurant for the first time, as a prep chef.  What this job entails is preparing as many items as possible so when the kitchen chefs go to make the meal, the time consuming parts are already finished.  I started off proportioning out the amount of certain foods.  I was given a tub of spaghetti and had to put 7 ounces of pasts into each bad and then roll it up and put it where the cooks can use it when needed.  I also learned how to make crab cakes while on the job.  I spent a little over an hour rolling up balls of the crab cake mixture, flatting out the ball into a cake size cylinder and then proceeding to bread the cakes.  The back of the restaurant was definitely a lot more work than any of the previous jobs I had done, but the part that I enjoyed was the time went by very quickly because I always had something to do, and I was never just standing and waiting.

A Stack of Posters and a Three Dollar Lunch

This morning began at school, after we had to postpone our meeting with Mr. Larochelle until tomorrow.chatting up teachers and students about our senior project and passing out posters. We must have started with over a hundred in different colors, but after putting them all over school and passing them out like free candy, we managed to shrink the pile significantly. We were everywhere, from the writing center to the college office to the Cottage.

By the time we were done at school, we found ourselves famished and headed to Costco in an attempt to scope out possible concessions for our show. We decided that buying candy and prepackaged foods was going to be too expensive, so instead purchased brownie mix and decided that our best bet was baking. We intend to sell brownies, cookies, and maybe even cupcakes at our show to help raise money for My First Musical.

After checking out at Costco with our one item and receiving a pretty strange look from the cashier we grabbed lunch before leaving. I had a slice of pizza the size on one of our posters and a drink, which was delicious. There was still more work to come.

We put posters up in a few stores, including Capezios and Sam Ash Music, and went to Hawken Middle School and talked to more teachers and put up even more posters. Overall, it was a very productive day, and I am looking forward to our meeting with Mr. Larochelle tomorrow about lighting.

6: Meeting Brian

Tuesday Lena and I went to go and meet Brian Marshall one of the directors from Mercury Summer Stock. They are going to open Thoroughly Modern Millie, their "My First Musical" musical in the next couple of weeks so we met them right before a rehearsal. It was awkward at first because originally Rose was supposed to be there since she was the only one of us who actually knew Brian but because of the sports banquet at school she was unable to come. Once we actually figured out where we were supposed to be and what Brian actually looked like the meeting went very well. Brian was nice, open, and helpful about partnering with us and answering all the questions we had. We shared our press release with him, gave him a digital copy of the poster and some print ones, and we gave our list of contacts. He also may be able to help us find a drummer for the show which would be really really awesome because that's the one thing will still haven't been able to find. The most helpful thing Brian could do for us, besides finding us a drummer, would be to get us connected to the news show, Live on Lakeside. That would introduce us to a much wider audience and potentially help us raise more money for My First Musical.

5: Ups and Downs

Fridays rehearsal went really well. It was the first time we had everyone there and things really started filling out. It was really exciting hearing everyone together for the first time. There were some really good moments harmony wise but there is still just unfortunately not enough time to rehears. Its hard balancing and figuring out what songs we are going to rehearse in our short 2 hour rehearsal period. The group number are super important because of all the strange harmonies we have but then we end up neglecting the solos. Even more so we end up working more with people who don't know their songs well and don't get to spend time with the people who do even though the all deserve equal amounts of time. This is probably the most frustrating part of the whole experience for me.

Sunday's rehearsal did not go a planned. Because it was a backup rehearsal because we didn't want people to not be able to enjoy their memorial day we scheduled a rehearsal for Sunday evening. Gary couldn't be there but the rest of the cast could so we didn't want to have a missed opportunity to have them all together. We got Ben Wu to play for us but he is classically trained and not a rehearsal pianist so it was really difficult for him and the music itself is very difficult. We fortunately were able to find some music tracks for Edges online and we were able to rehearse with those. We finished rehearsal with singing Become, the opening song, against the demo cast's recording. I'm not sure what happened but thats the best they have ever sounded. Hopefully they will be able to duplicate it when we have our first rehearsal at the Upper School on Friday.

Update 6: A Failure to Confirm

So, we were supposed to meet with Mr. L today to do lighting things (basically cue the whole show), but unfortunately, we forgot to confirm with him in advance and he forgot. This wasn't a huge problem, though. Maybe a little inconvenient, but we rescheduled for tomorrow. 

Since we are unable to do the lights today, we've decided to spend our time working on the Final Presentation and figuring out what we want to say in our Final Reports even though we have to do them separately. We are also planning to go around town and drop off and hang posters wherever we are able. 

In other news, Lena and Bryce met with Brian Marshall from Mercury Summer Stock yesterday to discuss publicity options. When I scheduled this meeting, I forgot that I had to attend the Spring Sports Banquet, but I think it went just fine without me. I'm told that things went well and found out that a Board Member from Mercury will be present at the show to explain the My First Musical Program before the performance starts. 

We're still working to secure a drummer for the show, but we are optimistic that someone we've talked to will come through for us. 

On Friday, we are planning to record (in higher quality) more of our rehearsals to promote the show. 

Nova's Project 3

Throughout the past few days, I haven't blogged as much as I should have because my days have been so busy and I've been waiting to compile all the information in to one post. On last Friday, I gave my last two school presentations; I had Hawken Lower School in the morning and US Lower School in the afternoon. Both sets of students were perfectly behaved, Nova did well, and it brought back a lot of nostalgia for my time at the middle school, and of giving my chapel talk in the same place as my dog presentation. Here are some pictures of my setting up and delivering the presentation at Hawken Lower:

After the second presentation of the day, we were both pretty worn out, and we headed home. It was really great to see what an impact my speaking had on all of the kids at the different schools.

Saturday, I started my summer job, where I'm managing and lifeguarding at a pool in Hudson! I'm going to be working there a ton this summer, and I'll have Nova there with me. This being said, it's incredibly important that he be well behaved and comfortable at this pool, and know not to try to jump in. Nova did very well, and although he did get pretty hot, he behaved and the summer is looking good.

Sunday, I went to a couple of different private lessons with Amy. Nova worked on his 'down-stay' on a mat with another dog there too(!) and some free time that he shared at another client's house with her dog. It's very cool to see how Amy works with all her different clientelle to try to solve each unique situation for the dog handlers.

Monday, I had work again, and the pool was packed. Nova did well, though, and Amy had nothing scheduled because of the holiday. We called it quits early and rested up. Amy has recommended several methods of crate training that I try to teach Nova before the summer ends and I leave for college.

Today, Tuesday, we woke up early and helped Amy with a private lesson in a nearby polo field. The dogs worked on heeling obedience and ended the lesson very well, passing each other wihtout acknowledging one another. As I finish typing this, I will soon be heading to another class in a different field (assuming the rain holds off) to work on long-distance recalls!

A Sunday Rehearsal

Yesterday evening we met at our sponsor's house for a rehearsal. We managed to work through the theoretical blocking so that we can jump right in on Friday when we get to rehearse on upper school stage, where the actual performance will be taking place. We also got to work through a few songs with backing tracks which definitely helped the actors feel more confident. I am also looking forward to the meeting that we have scheduled with Brian Marshall, who is heavily involved in Mercury Summer Stock, tomorrow. We hope that he can expand our publicity further, and we also need to run our press release past him to confirm that we have accurately represented Mercury. Between rehearsal, poster circulation, meetings, and making connections, it looks like this week will be busy, but productive. We have also scheduled an extended rehearsal for next weekend, which will be exciting because it is going to include our bassist. During the actual show, the band will be on the stage, which is pretty different than in Hawken Players Society shows, but we think it will help balance the sound better because there are only four people singing.

Designing the Restaurants

On Friday, I spent the day in Mr. Doody's office with him and the architect in his office going over the designs for new restaurants all over the country.  They both showed me the designs they had both been working on and then they had me watch as they compared and commented on the others.  After working on the plans, they called the architect that would be looking over each project depending on the location.  They conversed about what new ideas they wanted incorporate into the designs, and then would email sketches back and forth so they could understand better what each person meant.  While listening to all this, I realized how much detailed thinking they put into creating the restaurants.  They worked on how the outside would be viewed from the road and also worked on how long each booth would be inside the restaurant.  Mr. Doody continues to talk about how a restaurant is about 10,000 little details, and he displayed this during the meetings.

Update 5: A Company Rehearsal

Today marks the day of my first on time blog post! It also marks the day of our first rehearsal with all four of our cast members. Everyone seems to be more familiar with and more comfortable with all of their material which is great. Since one of the men in the cast is also directing another show and is only available to us during the week on Fridays, we've decided to hold another rehearsal this Sunday so that he can get some more work in on his music. Unfortunately for this rehearsal, Gary is unavailable since he has other jobs, so we've asked another student, Ben Wu, to play for us that day.

In other news, we were finally able to set the poster for the show and have printed a bunch out on colored paper and handed them out to the cast at rehearsal today. I put one up today on the board at the Giant Eagle in Legacy Village and we should be able to post more around Cleveland over the weekend and throughout the next week or so. In addition to the posters, we're trying to schedule a meeting with one of the higher-ups at Mercury in order to discuss more publicity options.

Visitation

Ms. Samet stopped by yesterday, just in time for afternoon practice.  Since coach John had already arrived but coach Tim hadn’t, I asked Ms. Samet to take a seat in the bleachers while the swimmers and I did some pre-practice stretching out on the pool deck.  Coach Tim arrived several minutes later, having just gotten back from his trip to Chicago.  The three of us, coach Tim, Ms. Samet, and myself, expressed our enthusiasm for my project, and that working with the kids has gone “swimmingly,” according to Ms. Samet.  Ha ha!  I was glad she was able to come in and talk to coach Tim, the most influential coach I’ve had in my entire swimming career.  He has taught me the importance of developing “posture, line, and balance”* in the water, before swimming fast.  Coach Tim is a Hawken graduate himself, and as it turns out, he worked with the famous Jerry Holtrey for his senior project.  Having the opportunity to carry on the swimming legacy makes me wonder if I will have an impact on another swimmer’s life like coach Tim has had on mine.

*Credit to Richard Quick, former Stanford University head women’s swimming and diving coach, for this phrase.