Beauty and the Beast - Appleton, WI: Antiquing, Critiquing, Postnasal Leaking (3)
Oct. 26th, 2025 09:59 pmDO NOT RESHARE ANY PART OF THIS POST WITHOUT EXPRESS PERMISSION. Thank you.**
This post covers the weekend.
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FRIDAY
Normal morning, though I felt crappy so after breakfast I walked back to Walgreens for more tissues, some Flonase (it really helps keep one's nasal passages open at night,) and some DayQuil. Back at the hotel my Throat Coat tea and throat spray had showed up too. These are preventatives and won't help me much now, but I hope they'll be useful as this tour continues through dry and cold weather.
After lunch I Ubered over to the antique mall (it's way too far to walk; I'd seen another cast member post about it.) It was HUGE and there was so much to look at!
Uranium glass!

Absolute loads of Disney memorabilia. There was just about everything you could think of, but I've never seen Disney comic books before and enjoyed perusing those. There seemed to be sets for every character. Even Scrooge McDuck had his own comic at one point!

Vintage cookbooks!

I loved how these green glass jars looked. There were matching salt and pepper shakers and sugar/cream containers too.

These apple plates got my attention for some reason. I think they remind me of an illustration from 1950s The Little Engine that Could.

The only trombone-related thing that I found :p

In one booth I discovered a lot of records that surprisingly matched Jameson's tastes, so I sent him a few pictures. When he reacted in an excited way, I decided to buy several of them for him :) There were a lot of international Queen vinyls, like a 1985 Tokyo pressing in limited edition red, or a 2-LP live 1979 broadcast "for Kampuchea," which I'm guessing was a fundraiser concert. There were some 45s too at only $5-6 so I got those for him as well. Grand total of $150-something, but it's not like one comes across these things every day, or thinks to scrounge eBay specifically for them.
Ubered back and got carsick in the Uber, so had a ginger candy and laid down when I got back. My guts were acting up a bit in general, but I think it's because I got liquid DayQuil which I forgot has SORBITOL, ugh. Guess that was a waste of money.
The evening show was well-attended. At 6:30 there were two lines wrapping in opposite directions.

Josh (Key 2) conducted and did a good job. I struggled with postnasal drip but did my best.
Two more tomorrow!
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SATURDAY
I was up early to do laundry. Breakfast and the usual blah blah of working on Foodie Finds and gathering things to put back in my trunk. I was done with it all by 10am or so, and decided to lie down. I didn't sleep, but it was quiet and warm and I felt very peaceful and could breathe through my nose, so it was good and sort of meditative.
The first show went well, though I had a small anxiety attack partway through the first act. This often happens if I fixate on physical sensations as though they indicate something wrong, which triggers my fight or flight. It's not surprising for it to happen while I'm sick. Swallowing mucus all day which makes me mildly nauseous, drinking extra liquids which makes me have to pee at difficult times, feeling like I can't breathe because my nose closes up at random...lots of these things can be a trigger. At least I know what it is and can ignore it, though it feels unpleasant and upsetting.
After the show we were given a free dinner, just burgers or grilled chicken for sandwiches with potato salad, chips, and cheese curds on the side (this is Wisconsin after all!) Free food is always appreciated. I took mine back to my room and chilled there until the next show.

Here are the groceries that I picked up at the Woodman's Food Market, and reviews for them:

- Local Pickled Asparagus: 5/10 These were just ok. Basic, nothing to write home about.
- Golden Beets: 5/10 Again, basic. They were mushier than the same brand of red beets, so I'll probably just stick to the red.
- NuGo Bar, Churro: 8/10 I eat NuGo bars regularly and already like them, this is just a flavor I hadn't seen before. It was very good, cinnamony and sweet. Would eat again.
- Door County Brownie Batter Canned Coffee: 8/10 I'm not actually trying this until Monday but have had their flavored coffee before and it's very good. They have a lot of different flavors so if you see 'em, try 'em!
- Elote Mexican Street Corn Almonds: 10/10 I had low expectations and ended up blown away by how good these were. The salt that they use contains actual corn powder and probably some butter flavor. Combined with the nutty crunchy almonds, these are VERY good. Addictive!!
- Simply Snackin' Jerky: 1,000/10 I first had these a few years ago and now I look for them every time I'm in Wisconsin. This is probably the best jerky I've ever had overall. They have something like 8-12 flavors, and the texture and ingredients and macros are just so perfect. You can probably order them online. Highly recommend this brand to anyone who's into jerky, they're just EXCELLENT.
- Dandies Vegan Pumpkin Spice Marshmallows: 9/10 If you try these, know that vegan marshmallows have a very different texture than gelatin-based marshmallows. These were so good! The flavor was very strong and delicious, I LOVE putting some in my coffee in the morning! Only complaint is that I don't think they need to be quite that sweet. Otherwise these are good enough that I'd definitely like to buy them again.
Possible TMI, highlight text to read: ( I'm trying to downplay this whatever-it-is illness, but it sure does suck. During the day the postnasal drip recedes a bit and I can breathe through my nose, generally I can even go about my day normally with minimal medication. But my sinuses and throat feel sore and bruised and I keep losing my voice at random times. Every night I wake up at 3am to spend 30 minutes coughing up green chunks and blowing yellow goo out of my nose until it bleeds, then force myself to swallow some water even though swallowing feels like eating nails. It probably feels extra because although it's a normal sinus/throat infection, I'm playing the trombone very hard every single day while it's happening, and I can't even begin to describe to you how much that exacerbates pain in the face/sinus cavities and the throat muscles.)
Yes, I was given antibiotics, but it hadn't even been a week when I got them so I am trying to wait until the 10-day mark to see if my body can handle this itself. It will take longer and be more awful that way, but we as a society are quickly reaching antimicrobial resistance exactly because we have overused antibiotics for smaller inconvenient things like this. If it's possible to preserve antibiotic effectiveness for myself, for something more serious than this, I'd like to try. If it's possible. If I hit the 10-day mark and things aren't improving, I'll DEFINITELY do the course.
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SUNDAY
Up a bit early because our show is at 1pm and I wanted the morning to pack. Things are taking longer each morning because of the time I have to spend coughing and blowing my nose and all that. ANNOYING.
Watched Oliver and Company...idk about you guys, but when I'm sick I like to watch movies from my childhood to soothe myself. And perhaps eat a little extra candy too :p
The afternoon show was nice. For the first time since we got here the sun was out and it was around 50°F (10°C) instead of 40, and I was a bit sad to be indoors. Nothing of note happened except that Sarah's (French horn) parents came to the show, and came down to the pit to say hi afterward. They seem really sweet, and were obviously proud of their daughter :)
During the break I chilled out at the hotel and watched some new Hazbin Hotel teaser trailers...Season 2 will be released on Amazon in 3 days!! They're only releasing two eps at a time though so I'd better cool my tits about it.
The evening show was lovely, we had an enthusiastic audience to see us off. The wall tag here is unique in that it's a whiteboard and each show is given a little block of space to design-or-sign, then eventually when it's full the whole board is covered under a big piece of plexi. Things are written in Sharpies so they don't wipe off easily like with whiteboard markers, but we were advised to use darker colors because the lighter ones do tend to fade over time with this method.
Whatever, here's our tag for Appleton!

After the show I packed up quickly and power-walked to the hotel, reserved an Uber for tomorrow, packed a bit, typed this up, got into pajamas, and went the heck to bed. Jameson's dad is visiting him right now and they were out at Halloween Horror Nights at Universal. As I type this they're at Voodoo doughnuts getting treats :)
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Monday: Flying to Kansas City. We've just found out that there's a Chiefs game AND a conference going on downtown on Monday so it's gonna be chaos. I'm glad I booked an earlier flight assuming everything happens on time.
Tuesday: Opening night in Kansas City. If my Illness Of Doom isn't showing signs of retreat by then I'll start antibiotics.












