New York, New York

This past weekend, we sang at Carnegie Hall. (Remember the last entry? If you haven't read it, go on. I've explained the details there.)

The performance as a whole- the entire trip really- was a little surreal. How many people are fortunate enough to count this among one of their life experiences? To, though part of a large group, stand on one of the world's greatest stages?

Not everything progressed smoothly, however. During the performance, an audience member's phone went off. Not once, not twice, but at least five or six times. As we were singing onstage. Now that's blatantly disrespect of the highest degree. I have reason to believe a number of us were ready to bash heads.

As if that weren't enough, we:

-had two members of the chorus end up

in the hospital on the departure days (there and back)

-were delayed as a result, and did not make it to the CBS studio where we were scheduled to sing, nor could we make another performance stop days later

-were held at the US-Canada border for nearly an hour

-experienced multiple mechanical problems with the charter bus we were riding

It all made for a very interesting experience. Quite decidedly, I would acknowledge it to be one of the most valuable of my life, well worth all the time, expense, and energy.

Check out another (and rather better) take on this whole deal by a fellow blogger.

Look out for more NYC photos next week! All the over-publicized tourist-magnet locations, yes, but I returned with a good number of shots with which I was very pleased.