Vive la difference(?)
Hello Hobbit Fans!
Greetings from the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, TX. This most definitely qualifies as one of the nicer perks of the itinerant singer biz. This weekend I am singing the Soprano I solos in the Bach Magnificat with the Austin Symphony. I get to sing with 3 singers I adore and one I am getting to know-- and adore. And of course, I adore the conductor, Peter Bay. It's a lovefest. Really.
I stay in a lot of hotels in this business. Sometimes I get lucky. This is one of those times. Moscow was another. Loved that hotel. And the one in Prague was pretty hot too. I got a suite, that time.
One thing you notice, is that different, shall we say levels of hotels have various pros and cons. One would think that all the pros would be on the side of the high-end hotels, but one would be wrong. Some are downright counterintuitive.
Take internet access, for one. This post is coming to you via the hotel's high-speed connection. Which I have to pay for. A not-quite-nominal fee. Last weekend, I was in Dallas, at a mid-price hotel. And the internet was free. And fast. Go figure.
On the other hand, there's the housekeeping services. At mid-range hotels, one basically has to vacate or otherwise allow housekeeping to do your room fairly early on in the day-- or plan to not have it done. As is quite often the case when I am away, I was in my room all day until I had a late afternoon appointment. At my current place of lodging, they called me to inquire as to when they could service the room-- and offered to do it at my convenience. Which in this case was 5:30 p.m.
About that appointment. I managed to pick up a nasty neck/shoulder spasm yesterday. Not sure how, but I would not be surprised to find that stress was a major culprit, this being the end of the semester and all. I've had these before, but not in a long while. Don't miss 'em either. One of my colleagues suggested I try acupuncture. I had never done it before, but figured, short of finding and convincing my doc to prescribe me some Flexeril, I might as well give being stuck a try.
It was a cool experience. Took about a hour. Needles in my neck, back and shoulder-- some attached to an electrical muscle stimulator, a heat lamp, and cupping. If you don't know what that is, it's dozens of small suction cups vacuumed onto your skin. I'm told it will leave bruises. So far, not so much. Good thing my gown has a mandarin collar. After all of that and some massage, I actually feel tons better. Not completely relieved, but at least my ear doesn't hurt and I can move my arm and neck.
And I never thought I'd say this: Austin's traffic makes Houston look like a backwater. What the hell? I've been driving in Austin for a while now, and I've never seen it like this. Rumor has it the toll roads-- or rather opposition to them-- is crowding the free roads.
Anyhoo-- off to bask in my amazing king bed with the down duvet and watch Law & Order on the jumbo flat-screen. I could seriously get used to this!
Greetings from the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, TX. This most definitely qualifies as one of the nicer perks of the itinerant singer biz. This weekend I am singing the Soprano I solos in the Bach Magnificat with the Austin Symphony. I get to sing with 3 singers I adore and one I am getting to know-- and adore. And of course, I adore the conductor, Peter Bay. It's a lovefest. Really.
I stay in a lot of hotels in this business. Sometimes I get lucky. This is one of those times. Moscow was another. Loved that hotel. And the one in Prague was pretty hot too. I got a suite, that time.
One thing you notice, is that different, shall we say levels of hotels have various pros and cons. One would think that all the pros would be on the side of the high-end hotels, but one would be wrong. Some are downright counterintuitive.
Take internet access, for one. This post is coming to you via the hotel's high-speed connection. Which I have to pay for. A not-quite-nominal fee. Last weekend, I was in Dallas, at a mid-price hotel. And the internet was free. And fast. Go figure.
On the other hand, there's the housekeeping services. At mid-range hotels, one basically has to vacate or otherwise allow housekeeping to do your room fairly early on in the day-- or plan to not have it done. As is quite often the case when I am away, I was in my room all day until I had a late afternoon appointment. At my current place of lodging, they called me to inquire as to when they could service the room-- and offered to do it at my convenience. Which in this case was 5:30 p.m.
About that appointment. I managed to pick up a nasty neck/shoulder spasm yesterday. Not sure how, but I would not be surprised to find that stress was a major culprit, this being the end of the semester and all. I've had these before, but not in a long while. Don't miss 'em either. One of my colleagues suggested I try acupuncture. I had never done it before, but figured, short of finding and convincing my doc to prescribe me some Flexeril, I might as well give being stuck a try.
It was a cool experience. Took about a hour. Needles in my neck, back and shoulder-- some attached to an electrical muscle stimulator, a heat lamp, and cupping. If you don't know what that is, it's dozens of small suction cups vacuumed onto your skin. I'm told it will leave bruises. So far, not so much. Good thing my gown has a mandarin collar. After all of that and some massage, I actually feel tons better. Not completely relieved, but at least my ear doesn't hurt and I can move my arm and neck.
And I never thought I'd say this: Austin's traffic makes Houston look like a backwater. What the hell? I've been driving in Austin for a while now, and I've never seen it like this. Rumor has it the toll roads-- or rather opposition to them-- is crowding the free roads.
Anyhoo-- off to bask in my amazing king bed with the down duvet and watch Law & Order on the jumbo flat-screen. I could seriously get used to this!
posted by YankeeHobbit | 10:43 PM
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