Hey, White Star? Crimson Spade? Northshield Boys? Don't say it! Think it, don't say it! It's a G-rated journal!

Fri Apr 14, continued - Loading the equipment from band was no big deal, although I could only fit the PA and *one* speaker in the backseat, not two speakers. Then a very uneventful drive to LAX and I only had to do three laps until Ken phoned on his cell and I picked him up at the terminal. We got into his place around midnight exactly, unloaded band equipment into the living room (because I am paranoid girl don't you know, and I try to *never* leave anything valuable in my car if I can help it), and we all went to sleep.

Sat Apr 15 - My eye doctor's appt. was nice and easy, and after a year and a half, my eyes are still in great shape. The contacts fit well, and my prescription only went up 0.25 (whatever that means) in each eye, with no changes to the astigmatism in the one eye. So my new contacts are on order, and it was time for more errands. I picked up all my mail, had a lovely latte and some breakfast, dropped by the Blood Center and donated a pint, then headed back to Dayle's place. We had some lunch, then packed up the cars and headed to set up for her birthday bash.

The stage was a nice size, and the drummer and I got all our equipment set up long before the other guys arrived. So I had a little time to help decorate the hall with cute balloons and table cloths, then back to band setup when everyone else arrived.

The party itself was quite enjoyable, although there was a bit of "my worlds are colliding" by hanging out with the band AND with my SCA friends. Most of my SCA friends have purchased my CDs, but very few of them have ever heard me play live with the band. They've heard me sing quietly, or harmonize with Madrigals, or shout heraldry out on the field, but never heard me behind the microphone as an "international rock star." It was an absolute BLAST performing for Dayle and for all our friends!

I made an extra copy of the set list and got the whole band to autograph it for her, for her scrapbook. She's a big fan of Styx, and travels around to see them. So she really knows how to care for and display band memorabilia. And I was right: She loved this special touch present, and tells me she'll actually frame it. Gee, wow. I get to have my set list framed and put up in the Styx Shrine Room. Dude, that's some serious rock-and-roll success right there!

Lynn bought a copy of each CD, and waxed eloquent about how much she enjoyed the show. Lots of friends, in fact, were quite impressed, so I was floating on cloud nine with them all.

After the party, most everyone headed back to Dayle's to continue partying, only now with the option to have a few drinks. [Couldn't have alcohol at the center.] Of course, I had to unpack equipment from my car *again*, but lots of friends pitched in to help.

I never really realized how exhausted I was until I'd had a tiny cup of mead (that tasted VERY much like hard cider) and started drifting off on the couch while everyone was chatting. Finally I just had to give in, change into pajamas, and head upstairs to sleep.

Sun Apr 16 - Easter Sunday, and I woke at 6 am to go curl up in my car and listen to Neil Saavedra on KFI for 3 hours. He does the most amazing show, and I'm such a geek. At 9 am, I went back in, showered, dressed, and headed to church. I hadn't been in weeks/months so it was the added silliness to go on "High Holidays"—when all the "hardly-ever-go" folks show up for just Easter and Christmas. The place was packed, and we all laughed quite a bit about it. We're a very silly, no standing on ceremony, congregation. Craig (the pastor) joked, "Look, the lost have been found!" and the whole group laughed with him. Laurie (one of the gals who volunteers as I do, for Scripture reading and other tasks in the service) piped up, "Craig, I'm going to say what you *won't* say—Those of you here today? Tithe today!!" And everyone laughed even harder. I adore Laurie. She's a riot.

Afterwards I went and grabbed some lunch, headed back to Dayle's, helped clean up from the party, and packed the band equipment *back* into my car again. Since Ken had to return to the airport again, he came with me to help unpack the equipment back in the studio, then we headed over to LAX. Got him there in plenty of time for his flight, then I headed to the office, of all things. I had a nice sit-down dinner at Souplantation, and here in the office I've gotten all caught up on all my email plus some of my actual work-work done.

Some exciting news—One of my Northshield boys (see the Estrella stories in February) is moving to California for a new/better job. Granted, it's way up in Modesto, but that's much closer than Wisconsin. And it's the neighboring "kingdom" to our north, but it's still much closer than Northshield (the kingdom in Wisconsin & Minnesota). So he'll be here in about two weeks, which is just astonishing. He's such a dearheart, to keep in touch on cell phone so regularly, and I'm really glad to be one of those kinds of friends he'll just ring up out of the blue. Of course, the rest of my Northshield boys are seriously bummed he's leaving them, but well, we'll think of ways to spend time with them more later. Let's just say we've got a regular exchange program going on now! *laughs*

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Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: Actually, I'm going to be thankful for Gauge himself, today. He's definitely a *huge* ray of sunshine in my life some days, like this evening. Thanks, Nick.
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Exercise: Over 22,000+ steps on Saturday, and I'm at 8100+ today. Gee, lots of driving today?