Recording

Friday was one of the most interesting days of my life! I don't ever remember having a day quite like it before! WOW!!
My day started, well I guess dark and early, 3:50 am. I got up and did a condensed version of my morning routine, and was outside waiting for the van by 4:50. Everybody got into the vans and cars with no problem, and we were pulling out of the driveway by 5:10.
Our caravan of 2 15 passenger vans and 3 cars hit the highway with no problem. I was in a van that was driven by my roommate, the other van was driven by one of the college guys, two of the cars were driven by college guys, and Brother Randall was in the other car. We even managed to make it a good ways down the road without anything going wrong. I'm not quite sure where, but around the time we were really starting to get into the city we turned onto another highway and the other van didn't turn with us. AAAAAHHHHHH!!!! It was very interesting. Bro. Randall was frantically trying to get a hold of the van and to figure out how to tell them to meet up with us. Meanwhile, our shortened caravan was continuing on to the Brooklyn Bridge. During a series of twists and turns to get onto the the bridge we lost one of the cars. Thankfully the guy who was driving it knows his way around the city, so there was no worries about him. Our INCREDIBLY shortened caravan continued on the B.B. and then straight through the heart of Manhattan and out the other end through the Holland Tunnel. Somewhere soon after the tunnel the van caught up with us.
Now we were in New Jersey, and it was time for a Dunkin Donuts stop. :) woo hoo!! The college bought donuts for all of us, but if we wanted a drink we had to buy our own. Of course I wanted a drink, so I got a coolatte, that along with a Boston Creme donut made a LOVELY breakfast. :)
We got to Marty's (our engineer) around 9:15. The car that we had lost in Manhattan had already arrived. Amazingly everybody got there, and all in one piece!
The plans were for the choir to record 4 songs. The sopranos and tenors got to record first, it was umm, well, fun I guess. The sopranos were in one room, and the tenors were in a room adjacent to us. Everybody had their own set of headphones through which we heard the music that we sang to, a metronome, what the tenors were singing, and also a microphone that Bro. Randall and Marty talked to us through. After ironing out some wrinkles we were finally able to start recording.
Our first song was "Marching to Zion." It took us an hour in a half to record it! By the time we were done I was exhausted. Thankfully we got a short break while the altos and bases were recording.
While they were recording I took a short walk over a small creek and through some woods to a river. I don't know what the name of it is, but it was very pretty and I was able to take pictures.
All too soon the altos and tenors were done. They had not only recorded "Marching to Zion" but also "Benediction." We were able to record "Benediction" and then it was time for a lunch break. :) We ate pizza. It was good! :)
After an hour break we recorded "O Worship the King" and "God So Loved the World." By this time I think it was after four o'clock. I was really tired. The altos and bases recorded the last two songs and then my roommate had to record for the solo part that she had in "O Worship the King." We left PA a little after 6.
Going back to NY there were only 2 vans cuz the college students that drove their cars were going straight from the recording to home for spring break and Bro. Randall stayed in PA overnight so he could work at the studio on Saturday.
We ate a supper of sandwiches, chips, cookies, and pears in the van.
Our van was supposed to stop just outside of Queens to meet one of the girls' moms so that she could go home for break. Let's just say that it was quite the experience. What should have taken about 5 or 10 minutes took almost an extra 2 hours! It was crazy. Without going into it, let's just say that it got a little scary. During this time, somebody remembered that it was Friday the 13th. That explained a LOT!
We finally got back to campus about 12:15! I ran into my room and grabbed a few things that I would need and then my roommate drove me down to my grandparents house, where I am house/dog sitting for spring break cuz my grandparents are on vacation.
It was about 12:30, and by this time I was wide awake with a major case of insomnia! It was crazy. I thought about trying to sleep, but I knew there was no use. I was supposed to bake a dessert for my Sunday School class, so I decided to bake it right then. I also did quite a few extra things. I finally was able to fall asleep around 3!
Thankfully I didn't have to get up until 8:30 Saturday morning. :)