Day 779: Music in my soul

So Monday was a mildly miserable day, or so it seemed then, mostly because I came down with a pretty horrific migraine midway through my shift at work and I ended up curled up on the couch with my jacket over my head, all small and pathetic like a little corpse until the light stopped hurting.

I also got to go on a trip to the prison with Amber, which was full of entertaining. I didn't realize the county corrections center was pretty much in the middle of downtown, or that security is mildly lax going in if one is a lawyer, clerk, counselor, or member of the clergy. The man was saw was not frightening or violent, just a little crazy, although I kept my head down and took copious notes like the little clerk I was. The most fascinating thing was watching Amber operate. She's amazing - she was like every slick, hard-to-pin-down lawyer at the same time as being intelligent, forceful, and sympathetic. Just...wow. She really is a sleeper - all blonde-airhead humour and then, out of nowhere, razor sharp intelligence. FHE seemed to go well with the new girl leading - I missed the awesome game because I was in a planning session, but it was good to get that sort of thing on the front burner for once.

As for today - today was awesome. There were many ways in which it could have gone lame, but it was cool. First of all, I got a free ticket to the new Transformers movie. Because my university is cool like that - apparently they'll be giving out free tickets to HP6, too. I just had to march across campus, show them my ID, and get a ticket. I walked with Jake, since he needs to spend more time with the singles. We talked movies, the weather (because Omaha was a sauna today, before it was a disaster) and we also talked. Well. German grammar. Because I inspire the weirdest conversations in people.

I got all my work done today, too. By mean "all", I mean that I got my outline done and my preliminary questions done, and that was that. All by half past three. So I chilled out at the school and wrote while Angela studied. After I got done I went home, changed into nice clothing, ate food, practiced my drums (yes, in my nice green church dress) and then hit the road.

Because tonight, I was a volunteer hostess for the MoTab performance down at the Holland Performing Arts Center. It was raining when I steered my car out of the parking garage - and it was a mini-hurricane by the time I hit Dodge. Seriously. Trees bent double in the wind, rain lashed my windshield in torrential downpour, debris from the construction site across the street nailed my car, and there was also hail. I was terrified that I wasn't going to make it, but then I remembered that I was driving a huge SUV. I had to circle the block a few times before I found a place to park, and even though I technically parked illegally, the weather was so terrible that no meter maid was going to go out there just to peg a ticket on my car.

I was lucky and had an umbrella in the back of the car, so I contorted myself into the back seat to get it, and then trotted along to the Holland. Was soaked from the knees down (my high heels were done for) by the time I made it, but I made it safely. The only other YSA I saw was Dave the Dental Student (not to be mixed up with Dave the PT student), but then Matt the Dental Student and Garcia (who I do not think is a student) showed up as well. We stood around making introductions with the couple missionary volunteers, and the temple president's wife, out of the blue, thought that Dave and I were, well, together. I froze up. (Let's face it - most people assume I'm someone's little sister.) Dave laughed it off and slung an arm around my shoulders (I was good enough not to nail him in the ribs with an elbow), and then we were assigned to work at tables handing out nametags and tickets to VIPs. And boy, were there VIPs. We met Mr. Mac (like the dude who sells the suits - people in Utah know what I mean), Hal Daub (who ran for mayor), Judge Joseph Bataillon (I think he's the district court judge, not the county court judge), a bunch of people from the media, and other fancy people. The Dean of the law school was there, which was entertaining. We cracked jokes and talked to each other between helping people, and then me and another girl (the only other YSA girl who'd most likely been volunteered by her dad, who is on the stake high council) went to hand out the gift box things.

Once the fancy reception was done and everyone was going to the show, we volunteers got to scavenge the leftover food. There was a lot of it - it was fancy and bite-sized and expensive and a little outlandish. We had fun guessing what the cheese was, among other things. They didn't have real tables, either, just those annoying bar tables like at fancy law school receptions, so we had food. And then the best news of the night (because I'd brought my dance bag in preparation to scoot out of there and go belly dancing like I usually do on Tuesday nights) came when the lady who'd been supervising us said we could take the seats of those who had not shown up (we waited a grace period of fifteen minutes). I have no clue how someone could just decide to skip out on hundred dollar show tickets, but I was grateful for the chance to see the performance live. Of course, the tickets came in pairs since most people came in pairs, so we had to sit in pairs. Matt immediately declared that Dave and I should sit together since the temple Matron thought we were "together" and obviously it was a match made in the temple - so we sat together.

And the concert just blew me away. It was beautiful. I've seen the choir live once before, but this was totally different. They did a lovely Spanish wedding song that was - wow. It sort of reminded me of some of the wild magic choral pieces out of Escaflowne. And they did an African song that was amazing, especially the spirit and enthusiasm and African drumming that went with it. They did some seriously cool gospel songs (people are thinking, MoTab? Gospel? Really?) with one lone brother singing solo and dancing in the front. It was awe-inspiring. They sang songs from musicals (Carousel, the Secret Garden), and of course they sang hymns. They sang "Come Come Ye Saints" and the Battle Hymn of the Republic (those of us who are trained knew to sing along when the conductor turned to us). Chip Davis of Manheim Steamroller conducted the encore, which was "This Land is Your Land", and then the last song was, of course, "God Be With You Till We Meet Again" (which always makes me sniffly because it reminds me of the last time I saw President Hinckley at Conference). Also, the organist did a solo version of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, which was extra amazing, because he played the melody entirely with his feet.

I had an absolutely wonderful evening. There was horrific weather and storms and I could have been cold and miserable, but helping out paid off and I had fun.

Also, before I left, dental student Dave asked for my phone number. I'd invited him out to Bernadette's housewarming party and the arts festival this weekend, and so he said he'd call me. Or text me. I'm not getting my hopes up, but I'm pretty sure that's the second time in my life a boy's asked for my number.

Now, it's time for me to sleep.

But that was awesome.