Day 5 - 298 words in 0.25 hours
Jessie went off to find her car. She knew that the conservatory would maintain her car for her, it was part of the deal. But first she wanted to know where they were keeping it.
Excuse me,” Jessie addressed a grounds keeper, “Do you know where the parking garage is?”
“Why, yes I do,” the grounds keeper replied. “But give me just a second and I will get someone to show you.” The grounds keeper pulled out a radio.
“Thank you very much, but you don't have to go to the trouble,” Jessie responded as the grounds keeper pulled out the radio. “I really can follow directions, it's no trouble.”
“No, miss, it's no trouble at all. In fact, they kinda make me do it.” The grounds keeper got on the radio. “Justin, it's Tim. Are you free for a transport?”
“I can do it, whadaya want?” the voice squawked back.
“I have a miss....” Tim started.
“Noshe” Jessie replied, smiling.
“I have a Miss Noshe.” The grounds keeper continued, “that needs transport to the garage. Do you think you could oblige us?” Tim smiled back at Jessie.
“Sure thing, I'll be there as soon as I can. Where's the pickup?” Justin questioned. The signal was strong and clear even though he sounded like he was responding from a tunnel.
“The gardens, stop...” Tim looked around, “Stop E-4. We'll meet you there.”
“Gardens at Edward 4, got it! I'll be there in five.” Justin squawked again. “Justin out.”
“This way, Miss Noshe,” Tim gestured toward the closest bench.
“It's Jessie, please! And thank so much for helping me, Tim.” Jessie smiled again. Timm blushed slightly as he escorted Jessie to the bench.
“Oh, its no big deal, miss, just doing my job.” Tim blushed a little deeper.
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Day 6 - 213 words in 0.5 hours
Jessie took a seat between Michael and Jason. She like being there even if both men had their girlfriend seated on the other side of him. Jessie would have liked if either one of the men didn't have his girlfriend there, just so she could openly flirt with him, but that obviously wasn't going to happen tonight. Instead Jessie would have to settle for covert knee squeezes, interlocking pinkie fingers, stolen glances and personal comfort induced arms around her shoulder. All of that action would be performed under the cover of darkness in the movie theater.
Jessie had even paid for this outing. But when she invited each of the men, they asked if they could bring someone along. Jessie didn't want to appear rude, so she consented. She liked the girls well enough, but she like their men more and she hated being the fifth wheel. Jessie still dressed to the nines for this date like it was like any of the others. Just because she couldn't be alone with a man she wanted didn't mean that she could dress like a slob. And who knew, maybe she would meet someone else that was better than these two. At the very least, she could make them think about what they were missing.
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Day 7 - 474 words in 0.75 hours
“So, Tim, how long have you been here?” Jessie questioned to break the tension.
“16 years, miss,” Tim replied quietly, looking at the ground.
“16 years? Wow! I bet you've seen a lot of good performers come out of here in that amount of time.” Jessie studied Tim's demeanor. She thought he looked nervous and a little embarrassed. Jessie thought that Tim was acting like not that many people talked to him.
“Yeah, maybe. I haven't paid that much attention to them.” Tim started looking down the path. He was still red-faced. After he appeared to be satisfied that Justin hadn't arrived yet, Tim went back to looking at the ground. He started to kick at a rock, pushing it around with the toe of his work boot. Tim let out a sigh “Look,” Tim started to say, “you don't have to talk to me. I know that you're just trying to act nice even though you'll probably just make fun of me to your friends later....” He trailed of, looking hurt.
“Whoa! I think you have me confused with somebody else.” Jessie stated, looking worried. “First off. We just met. Second, You don't even know me. And third,” Jessie grabbed Tim's hand and used her other hand to lift his chin so that she could make eye contact. “Third, you have to stop acting like the world is out to get you before you get to know a person.” Tim's whole face turned red as Jessie let go of his chin and hand. He immediately looked back at the ground.
“Grounds crew doesn't mix with the students, miss. That's just the way it is.” Tim started to bump the rock with his toe again. “We just do our job and stay out of the way. That's how the students like it.”
“Well, I don't like it. Everyone deserves to be seen and heard so that they can be recognized.” Jessie stated flatly. “You never know who you might meet and what they might turn out to be.” Tim looked back up to look around again. This time, he looked at Jessie while she continued speaking. “I know that my life has been greatly enriched by the so-called “little people”. They have been more important and nicer to me than most of the big wigs I have met.” Tim shoved his hands in his pockets while Jessie switched her bag to the other shoulder. Jessie smiled as she saw a little bit of questioning in Tim's eyes. “Of course, there are times when knowing the big wigs is helpful, but usually it's just a big pain in the hindquarters.” Jessie smiled while Tim chuckled. Jessie and Tim continued speaking for a couple more minutes until the transport arrived. As soon as the cart stopped, Tim made sure to introduce Jessie to Justin.
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Day 8 - 1658 words in 3.5 hours
As the house lights went down, Jessie settled down into her seat. She got to be the designated popcorn holder but there were 2 other bags of popcorn as well. Jessie was excited about this movie in many ways and for many reasons. One of the biggest reasons was because so many of the people she knew and were friends with were voice actors or otherwise involved with this production.
It was her beloved opera Carmen that had been the basis for this film. It was animated and toned down a bit, but she could still recognize so many things in the story. Jessie even thought she saw a couple of her old moves from her productions in the way that the character Carmen was moving. Jessie really wouldn't have been surprised if they had used her as a model in those scenes. She had heard from the friend that helped with the score that they had reviewed both of the productions where she had played Carmen.
One of the other things that was quite odd was that she had worked with both of the male actors who were the singing voices for the male leads. Johnny had been in the first production with her and Peter had been in the second production. One of the minor female characters was the woman who had played Micaëla in the Second production. All of Jessie's friends who worked on this movie swore that they had campaigned for her to be cast as Carmen, but the studio and the director both wanted a better known actress/singer to play the part so that they could “go in another direction” with the part.
Both the studio and the director also decided that Jessie's voice was “too strong” to be in the chorus. That wasn't the first time that Jessie had heard either of those rejections before. She had a big resonant voice that carried well over both opera houses as well as microphones. It was very distinctive and very much classical sounding. She could sing in the pop/rock style that they wanted, but it really only sounded right in the lower range of her voice. That range was more developed and she was more flexible with it.
Besides, she had just been accepted to the conservatory and her contract expressly forbid work outside of “pre-approved” locations and classes. Even though chorus work is usually reasonable, working more than 50 miles from the conservatory was not, let alone the fact that a principle part in any production is considered unacceptable and is grounds for dismissal.
As the opening scenes started with truncated versions of the famous overture followed by a shortened spoken scene of the first song. The first scene was followed by shortened version of Chorus of Urchins which rolled into the factory girls chorus. Jessie was on the edge of her seat all through that song because she knew that the next song would be her favorite, the Habanera. As the music transitioned into Carmen's entrance, the hairs on Jessie's arms stood on end. As Carmen appeared on screen and started the song, Jessie was more than disappointed with the director's choice of actress for the part. While she enjoyed what her friend had done to arrange the music and “update” it, Jessie also laughed as she heard the vocal arrangement and lyrics; they were the same English lyrics with the same base melody that she had performed so many times before. The saddest part of the whole thing was hearing the performer butcher the setting so terribly. The poor girl obviously didn't have Jessie's vocal range or talents and that required resetting the key in a couple of choice spots.
As Jessie listened, though, she was already sure that this version would be a hit. It was the perfect blend of pop styling with hard rock underpinnings and classical flair. She would love to re-record a version of this arrangement so she made a mental note to call Jim for a proper copy of the straight accompaniment without all of the inter-vocal key changes although she also made a note to request it in all three keys that the piece had to be transposed into as well as a possible copy with a single key change near the end just to shake things up. As Jessie was contemplating future recordings, record deals and rock star status, Michael leaned over and whispered into Jessie's ear.
“She's not very good, is she?” Michael questioned in hushed tones that sent shivers down Jessie's spine as his breath made contact with her ear. “I mean even I could have done a better job of singing that song. At least it would have been all in the same key.” Jessie could detect a bit of a chuckle in Michael's voice has he referred to his singing ability. He wasn't bad, but he wasn't really good either. Sure, Michael was probably better than 75% of the general populous, but that wasn't a difficult feat. He didn't suck, but he wouldn't be getting a recording contract any time soon. Michael's singing was more suited to the shower and karaoke night at the local pub. Jessie had heard Michael sing in both instances. There was a reason Michael was a dance Padrone and not a voice one.
“Yeah,” Jessie responded, “her range is limited, so that led to problems when working to arrange the music. The way she sings this piece makes it near impossible for most orchestral studio musicians to play live. They actually had to record the instruments in three different keys and then digitally cut them together to mix with the singer's vocals. It took them an additional month just to get everything to blend properly before they could even lay down the rehearsal track for the singer. It took her six months to learn the basic melody and another three months to learn the scant few embellishments she sang.” Jessie took a breath and then continued, “that's why you'll hear some of the most popular embellishments reflected in the instrumental score. She just couldn't learn them in time.” Seemingly satisfied with the answer, Michael briefly returned to watching the movie before leaning over to say something to Jennifer. Shortly after Jessie ended her interlude with Michael, she felt Jason place his arm around her shoulders. Jason reached up and softly caressed her cheek before gently pressing her head towards his. His move reminded her of the way Jason sometimes caressed his microphone while on stage.
“So, that song was really cool,” Jason whispered. He, too, send shivers down Jessie's spine. Not only was his breath making contact with Jessie's ear, she could also feel it on her neck which gave her a bigger thrill. “It's nearly impossible to play though, those key changes are tough. Plus, I don't think this was a very good song for her. She isn't vocally flexible enough to execute it properly.” Jason took his hand off of Jessie's face but left his arms around his shoulders. As Jessie turned her face towards his, their eyes briefly locked each other's gaze and they rested their foreheads against each other. Jessie broke the eye contact and positioned her mouth next to his ear.
“It had to be digitally mixed before she even started to learn it. And then it took her nine months to learn what she ended up recording. Jim, the guy that I'm friends with that did some of the mixing and arranging, actually had me in mind when writing this setup. You can hear all of my embellishments reflected in the instruments. He did that because the girl could barely sing the melody straight, let alone dressing it up.” Jessie swallowed hard and breathed in Jason's ear a bit before continuing. “It's OK, though. Jim said that a couple of the studio execs wants me to record a more standard version so that they can listen to it when they work out or when they're driving. Can't you just picture my vocals over a techno beat?” Both Jessie and Jason giggled at the though of middle-aged Jewish gentlemen jazzercising to Jessie's vocals. Eventually both of them turned their attention back to the movie. Jason left his arm around Jessie for at least 10 minutes after the end of their conversation. Eventually he moved his arm, but not before he squeezed Jessie's shoulder as he retracted the limb back so that he could hold his girlfriend's hand.
By the end of the movie, which everyone thoroughly enjoyed, the group was ready to get up and stretch their legs. Jessie suggested a stroll through the park before they headed to the bar for a little dancing and pool. As they walked through the spring air, Jessie started to sing the English version of the “Habanera” in a key that set the melody lower. As Jessie got a few bars in, both Michael and Jason started to hum along. By the time they got to the end of the first verse before they got to the chorus, all five of them were singing at the top of their lungs. By the middle of the chorus, they were all laughing and having a good time. Jessie decided that having the girls along might not really be that big of a deal after all.
Eventually they got to the bar. By the time they got there they were in a really good mood. They ordered some greasy food and had a really good time dancing and playing pool and darts. There were even a couple of cute guys there that totally hit on Jessie. She exchanged info with them, but they were so drunk it really didn't matter. Jessie was sure that they probably wouldn't contact her after they sobered up and checked her profile on MySpace. It was no big deal, they were not her type anyway.
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