So, I had one of those weird experiences this weekend that makes you wonder how fate works.

Several weeks ago, I was looking at flights to Toronto for this weekend, as my friends Emily and Dave were going to be having a housewarming party for the condo they finally moved into three years after they made a deposit on it. This was also conceived as a sort of wedding reception at one point, since they never had a proper one as their wedding was a rather quickly planned and implemented affair and they never did a proper reception involving all the friends they were unable to invite to the wedding. As it happened, the cheapest tickets were above my threshhold for flights to Toronto, so I asked Em if it would hurt her feelings if I didn't plan to come specifically that particular weekend, but whenever the websaver fare came up (hoping that it would be available this weekend).

The next week, there was a websaver fare - so I went up and spent the weekend. Had a great time, but found out that there would be several people in Toronto this weekend whom I've never met and would dearly like to do so. So I hoped hoped hoped that another websaver fare would appear, since at that point it was too late to buy even a remotely inexpensive ticket.

Fast forward to this week. On Wednesday I got the cheap fares email from Smarter Living and found to my dismay that there was no cheap fare to Toronto. Sigh. Called Air Canada to check on the availability of a standby ticket but was told they don't do them (I suspect they might actually do them at the gate, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to go to all the trouble when these are all people I'll be able to see some other time). So no Tronna for me this weekend.

So my week goes on, and as I'm calling my dad Friday to ask about how one goes from looking at houses to deciding, "This is the one," my cell phone starts buzzing. Yes, I was calling long distance on the company nickel. They deserve it. Plus, since I still don't have a dialing code, I just put in four random digits and dial the number, so somebody's got a call to Tulsa on their report, but it's not me. I digress. Anyway, my cell phone buzzes, so I ask the caller to call me back after he says something about having talked to my voice teacher and being in need of a tenor over the weekend.

Well.

There's a bit of phone tag, and he leaves a voicemail message with directions to where the rehearsal will be (a United Methodist church near American U), I leave a voicemail message for him returning his call, saying I think I can do it, and finally when I'm driving home he calls again and gets me and the arrangements are made. It's a performance of the Faure Requiem at same church, no solo stuff but they need a tenor section leader.

Conveniently, it more than pays for the plane ticket I bought to Toronto a couple weeks ago.

Show up a little late to the rehearsal Saturday morning (who knew there's bad traffic in northwest DC on a Saturday morning?) but don't get killed for it, and proceed to sightread the music. I've heard it before, and I've sung a number of Requiems (Requia? Requii? Bueller?) so I've got no problems with the Latin. It goes well except for one part where it turns out I've got slightly different text in my score than everybody else has in theirs (oops) but that gets fixed and all is well.

The performance was in their second service this morning. It went surprisingly well considering how unrehearsed everything sounded yesterday (it all comes together somehow, as they say). And I think I'm probably now on the one guy's list (he's a producer in the area) and I'm pretty sure I'll get more work out of the whole deal.

All because I went to Toronto two weeks ago instead of this weekend.

(2000-04-16)