the big day (for my brother)

We seriously lucked out with the weather this past Saturday. My brother's wedding was held outdoors, on the front steps of The Hickories. It was 74 degrees, literally not a cloud in the sky, and it wasn't even humid. Everything went off without a hitch (well, the parents came in on the wrong song, so we skipped the next one, but that's OK). The reception was also outdoors, under the gazebo/pavilion at DeLuca's Place in the Park. Not wanting to spend the evening looking for people to dance with, I invited my friend Bre as my guest. She was a lot of fun and everyone liked her, so I'm glad I did that.

The ceremony also presented the first public use of my new digital piano. It worked great. I posted some samples before, but here's the music I played for the wedding:

(The classical pieces are full recordings; the others are just excerpts.)

Recital:
Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring (Bach/arr. Atcheson) [816 K]
Somewhere in Time (Barry/arr. Greer) [172 K]
Arioso (Bach) [268 K]
Canon in D (Pachelbel) [784 K]
Theme from The Prince of Tides (Howard/arr. Line) [316 K]
Through the Eyes of Love (Theme from Ice Castles) (Hamlisch/arr. Greer) [128 K]
Processional from "Royal Fireworks" (Handel) [424 K]

Parents Seated:
Threads of Love (Line/ed. Maybery) [120 K]

Bridal Party Processional:
Hymne (Vangelis/arr. Line) [212 K]

Bridal Processional:
Con Te Partirò (Sartori/arr. Line) [256 K]

Flowers Presented to the Mothers:
Ave Maria (Schubert) [508 K]

Recessional:
Ode to Joy (Beethoven/arr. Bird) [860 K] -- I arranged this one myself because I couldn't find a decent piano arrangement of it anywhere. It's amazing how many composers have put this music into a flowing, lyrical setting. Screw that! I want it pompous and marchy, just like Beethoven wrote it!

good with the bad

Yesterday was interesting. The day began with hitting a rabbit on my way to work. He started to cross the road, then stopped and turned, so I didn't brake -- then he turned around again and dashed in front of the car. In a split second I thought, "pleasepleasePLEASE just run under the car just like the squirrels do." But nope... I heard the thrump and the crunch, and saw a flat bunny in my mirror. I was highly pissed, and I don't mean in the British way.

Later, I found out I didn't get a job that I applied for two months ago and even had two interviews for. And it was a really good company and would have allowed me to move out on my own and live closer to Cleveland. *sigh* Back to the search...

However, I had an appointment with my oncologist yesterday, and he said my CAT scan from last week is clean and my bloodwork was fine. Hurrah! Incidentally, my last chemo session was just over a year ago.

Guitar Center got a Yamaha S90 ES sooner than expected, so they're ready to exchange it with the floor model they'd loaned me. I thought I would head home after my doctor appointment, load up the keyboard, go get the new one, then go on to meet my friends at Buffalo Wild Wings in Lyndhurst, since I'd already be near I-480. But my appointment was on time for once, and I left the Clinic at 5:15, right in the thick of rush hour. Getting back to I-71, then from 71 to 480 took a good half hour, and I didn't feel like driving another 40 minutes home just to turn around and drive another half hour to Guitar Center and be late for wings. So I just went to BWW early and surfed the 'net on my laptop with the free wireless until my friends showed up. I'll go get the keyboard tonight after I pick up my new suit.

But the important thing is, no more cancer.

suit

I took the big plunge and finally bought a suit. It cost a pretty penny, but this is supposed to last forever, right? My parents got me a Men's Warehouse gift card for my birthday, so that helped defray the cost a little. I have to admit, I can't put my finger on why exactly, but the suit looked really good on me. The last time I did this was my senior year of high school, and that one isn't nearly as nice and doesn't fit anymore (and not just because I'm no longer a rail-thin stick).

I compiled all the tips I got from friends along with this page on the Men's Warehouse website (which I wish I had read months ago when I started this adventure) and ended up with a navy blue pinstripe single-breasted suit with 2 buttons. I also got some very comfortable black all-leather dress shoes, but didn't let the guy talk me into getting one of their expensive shirt & tie combos. They did have some nice shirts, but very pricey. Lifetime free tailoring and free pressings (you're only supposed to dry clean if it's dirty, and merely press it if it's wrinkled).

Ugh, I feel like such an adult. :) But that's fine, because I'm wearing my Pac-Man ghost shirt and I'm going to Cedar Point tonight.

Here's a quasi-amusing story: I was in the waiting room at the Strongsville Cleveland Clinic yesterday when a woman turned to me and exclaimed, "OH MY GOD!! Where did you get that shirt?!" I said I got it at Target and it was only ten bucks. She said her daughter would love it. After my CAT scan, I had lunch at the Panera across the street, and I saw her again. She said she just went to the Target down the street and bought two of the shirts.

In the Small World Department, after I was done eating, I saw a woman reading a Schoolhouse Rock script. I went up and asked her if she was doing that show. She said yes, at the Tri-C Performing Arts Camp this summer, and she's a music instructor at Tri-C West. I told her I played for that show two years ago out at Workshop Players. We exchanged business cards and a few quick empathetic theatre stories. I didn't quite catch her name when she introduced herself, but later, I saw her name was Kira Seaton. It turns out that two of my friends (Beck and Rat) know her and have worked with her. So we may be working together in the future.

Also, the Tuscan Chicken sandwich was awesome. Elyria needs more Paneras (like, say, one) and fewer Wal*Marts. I mentioned we're getting a second Wal*Mart, right? Because Elyria needs one Wal*Mart per 27,000 residents. And because the traffic along SR 57 isn't already atrocious enough. But as the owners of Twist 'n' Shake once said, "We're Elyria, not Middleburg Heights."

You got that right.

showing off the new piano

One nice thing about having a digital piano is that I can record directly into my computer and don't have to worry about room noise. To give you an idea of how awesome this thing sounds, here are a few excerpts of me playing (and by the way, the first three are accompaniment parts, so don't expect to hear a melody):

• "All the Wasted Time" (from the musical Parade, by Jason Robert Brown -- this is using the "natural piano" voice) [312 KB]
  
• "Moving Too Fast" (from the musical The Last Five Years, also by Jason Robert Brown -- this is using the "bright piano" voice) [296 KB]
  
• "Summer in Ohio" (also from The Last Five Years -- also using the "bright piano" voice) [592 KB]
  
• "Theme from Prince of Tides" (by James Newton Howard, arranged by Lorie Line -- this is using the "elegant piano" voice, and I'll be playing it at my brother's wedding with this keyboard) [328 KB]
  
• "Welcome to Jurassic Park" (from Jurassic Park, by John Williams -- this is using the "bright piano" voice) [440 KB]