Written by: Brody R.
Bolded words are defined at the bottom of the blog!
What is up, chat! It is your boy, Brody, back at it once again with a sicknasty blog post, as per the usual. Yesterday was an absolute wild ride. To shed some light on the title of this blog post, yesterday (June 10), it felt like I was being slow cooked like a roast all day, but while we were singing for the concert, we were cooking up those songs like it was nothing. 🔥
In the morning, I had an absolutely fantabulous breakfast consisting of four whole egg patties and one sausage patty with a cup of yogurt. It was such a lovely way to start this oh-so-long day. We were joined alongside Matt, Erin, Garrett, Liam, and of course, Mr. Tim (our coach bus driver) and we all rode together back to the church. I lowkey left my iPad and water bottle in the building, but, thankfully, I retrieved it or else you wouldn’t be getting such an in depth blog because then I’d be typing it on my phone. You definitely don’t want that!
Anyways, I also had coffee from the hotel and that was an absolutely terrible idea. I was shaking out of the wazoo and felt like my hands were going to fly off my body. Well, of course, I am alive and well, so we do not have to worry about that happening. I truly did enjoy my morning despite the crazed mood I was in. It was also during this time where I was able to have a little chat with Matt Downing. The night before I was informed that he just so happens to be one of my fraternity brothers of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and I had no idea until I was told by Erin Jobes. I was able to talk with him about it and he told me some neat stories about his days as a collegiate brother. I thought that was super neat information to know and serves as a really cool bridge between my life as a student and as a member of the Chorale. ❤️🖤💛
After we had our little chat about how our home stays were, we boarded the coach to travel onwards. Our next stop was Blacklick Woods Canopy Park. The views were great and I loved walking on the rickety rope bridges. Sometimes an adrenaline rush is all you need to keep yourself hyped up. I got some great photos.
I got both photos of the group and some of the surrounding nature which was super duper neat. I was also able to enjoy some peace and quiet on a little nature walk that I took to recenter myself with such a hectic week I’ve had personally so far. I’ve been having to work on assignments for a summer class I’ve been taking over tour, so with whatever free time I have that isn’t connecting with fellow Chorale members, rehearsing, performing, or doing all of the other cool jazz we do on tour, I am most likely studying or doing other work for school. So, having a little appreciation for nature thrown into this week was quite refreshing and definitely needed.
We met up as a whole group at the base of the canopy where we sang a couple of tunes. We sang “Let Me Ride” and, ironically enough, something real neat that happened was in the lyrics we mention the story of Ezekiel. It just so happened that there was a mother with a couple kids, in which her youngest son’s name was Ezekiel. This made her other kids want to stay and listen to us sing. This was just a very feel-good moment that I believed deserved to be shared. 😊
For lunch we went to a big plaza with a bunch of different food options. A few Chorale members and I decided to take a little trip over to Kroger, the best place to search for lunch. Unironically, there were a lot of great options…perhaps there were TOO many options. Me, being my indecisive self, ended up changing my mind at least three times on what I wanted to eat. First thought to cross my mind was a whole rotisserie chicken, and then it was sushi and a salad, but I couldn’t make up my mind. I was attempting to keep it decently budget friendly, but then I ended up spending $20 on more snacks for the next week anyway… so…what good did that do? I decided to get some lunch meat and cheese that was about $8 and I’m sure was just as filling if not more than my other options. The perfect balance of protein and fats without the unnecessary carbs. Mwah, chef’s kiss!
I did also have a little bit of a crave for fruit and, thankfully, Joy was so nice enough to offer me some of her watermelon that she didn’t plan on eating. I was extremely grateful for her sparing her fruit to fuel my love for watermelon. Her and Aaron then proceeded to pull up with some mousse parfait. Literally this thing was about the size of a puppy. I’m glad I only had one bite of it, or else, I might’ve ate the whole thing. ‘Twas a great little trip to the grocery store and has a lot of good laughs. The connections with the people made in this group are unlike anything I’ve seen anywhere else. The fact that I see most of the members of the Chorale only two weeks and two weekends out the year and still feel like I’ve been with them the whole time feels a little surreal to me. I enjoy being able to make memories that I know will last me a lifetime while I am a part of this group. Anyways, let’s move on from the sappy stuff… 🍉
After lunch, we proceeded to our concert venue for the night. We have returned back to our ol’ stompin’ grounds in New Concord, where we host our summer workshop each year. We sang at College Drive Presbyterian Church, just at the bottom of Muskingum University’s hill. Unfortunately, this is the only stop on tour where there was no air conditioning. When you’re a group of singers where your uniform is a red polo and navy slacks, you can maybe observe where we might run into some issues. ESPECIALLY, on one of the hottest days of the year so far.
We decided to make some adjustments to the uniform for the evening to make it more comfortable for all of us to perform in. Our summer uniform is our navy athletic shorts along with white sock and white shoes. So we ended up with a business on top; party on the bottom type of look that I believe worked very well. Granted, it was still “hotter than Hades” as Erin Jobes so eloquently put it. We had a delectable dinner prepared by the church staff. Sort of a KFC/Thanksgiving type of deal we had going on for this meal. Bomb Mac and fantastic slices of ham were served. I was asked to give the blessing which turned out to be a real hoot. I’ve never been the greatest at keeping things brief, so when it comes to moments like a blessing, I get quite frazzled. I began to ramble a little bit about how the day was, but you know what… people seemed entertained! Food rating: 8.7/10. Overall Experience: 7.7/10. Never ever trust me with a concise blessing. I also got to jokingly throw a chair at Matt without him even noticing which made this concert 10x better than it already was. 🪑
We then were able to meet our host family for the night. I stayed with Alan and Aaron. We were hosted by Jake and Beth Burnett. They are a lovely couple and just so happen to be building their own house, so our homestay happened to be on one level of a three-story house that is currently under construction. Jake let us see lots of his progress that he’s made and it was really neat to see some of the process. My favorite part was the Lego room he has for his sons that have a latter up to it from two different rooms which was super clever. We sat around for a while and chatted about ourselves and how we got involved with the chorale. He also happens to be an alumn and working of/for Muskingum University. He went to school with our very own Matt Downing and Erin Jobes in his undergraduate. We were given the chance to take a look at some year books and see our staff in their “glory days”, as I said. I was able to find some pictures of Matt and our fellow fraternity brothers which was super awesome. After that we pretty much wrapped up our night and got ready for bed. 🧱
I do hope you enjoyed the newest rendition of the Bird Blog. There was never a dull moment throughout the day. I will once again return with another diabolical blog, so don’t be sad to see me go. I will see you on the other side. Stay awesome! 😼
The walls are beginning to speak back to me,
Brody Rodriguez 👀
Definitions, in Brody’s words
“Sicknasty” – Exclamation. Used in reference to something amazing. Usually used to acknowledge another’s statement.
“Fantabulous” – Used to describe something that is both “Fantastic” & “Fabulous”
“Lowkey” – A chill being or a substitute for the word “genuinely”
“Wazoo” – Exclamation. Used to describe much of pure substance.