Dawn Mirage

I've just begun my day-long job as "door monitor" for the NOI auditions taking place today at NU. Can you believe it...I'm getting paid $12 per hour to sit in Regenstein's front lobby, let people in the front door, give them directions to the practice/audition rooms, and then let them into the practice room area. Oh...and I had to post signs around the building to label all these spots as well. So far a total of 6 people have arrived and that includes the actual auditioner and one parent. About 30 people are expected to audition between now and 4:00 pm and as I await their arrivals I've got this post to write, a book to read, a CV to tweak, and maybe some music or podcasts to listen to if I start to get really bored.

In order to be able to get all my practicing in today, I arrived at Regenstein a few minutes before it opened at 7:00, and as an added bonus I got to watch the sun come up...something I haven't really done in a while.

The coolest thing I noticed this morning was a striking mirage that stretched between the water and a layer of clouds way off over the distant horizon.

...woo hoo! auditioners # 7 and 8 just arrived. I'm workin' hard I tell ya!

ANYWAY...

Here are the pictures I took...

And a non-zoomed-in shot of the whole scene...

More good news. I landed a couple more jobs for this week and next.

Brace yourselves...

I'm going to babysit for one of the doctoral trumpet students and his wife so they can treat themselves to a romantic Valentine's Day dinner, and then again for another date the following week. I realized after I agreed to help them out that I don't know how old their daughter is. From a previous get-to-know-you chit-chatting session think I remember him saying she was 2...or maybe 3...hmm...I guess I'll have to ask him later.

When I was a teenager I tried my hand at babysitting in the neighborhood. I was terrible at it. I was so shy at the time that I was usually even scared of the kids I was watching, and if someone's baby started crying and I couldn't get him/her to stop, I usually became so flummoxed that I'd start to cry too. I'm still not all that great with kids--especially babies. I have a terrible time figuring out what to do with them and I'm still pretty intimidated by their smallness and fragility.

My trumpet friend said they'd put their daughter to bed before I arrive and that all I'd have to do was be around to monitor things and make sure everything stays safe and sound. Though I'm a little nervous and already trying to plan my how-to-be-good-with-a-child strategy, the promise of earning a little extra money is keeping me in the "I can do this" mindset.

I can do this...whew...