good things

1. having sufficient sick days and teammates and time until the deadline that it is possible to take a day where you say Guys, I'm still dealing with yesterday's migraine, so I'm going to stay here and try to get some work done in between periods of lying very still in the dark (esp. when you then fail to get any work done in between periods of etc., because those periods are few and spent drinking water)
   
2. the migraine finally, finally, finally packing up
   
3. getting a lift to the recording session so you don't have to (a) drive or, more crucially, (b) deal with trying to find a parking space when you get home
   
4. only having to do the Mendelssohn "There Shall a Star from Jacob" (if you don't know it -- and I didn't, before about two weeks ago -- think of every other Mendelssohn chorus ever and you'll just about have it) about a half-dozen times
   
5. ditto the arrangement of the Coventry Carol with the screechy bits in the middle
   
6. and only a small handful of takes, as well, of "Make We Joy"
   
7. and none at all of a particularly wretched Ave Maria, yay yay yay!,
   
8. so you get to finish up with "Gaudete Omnes", which is your favorite, and for which the section leader (soloist in the above Coventry Carol, even) made a point, not for the first time, of wanting to stand near you because you know it so well she feels safer singing it with you nearby (note: she knows it fine, too, but it's nice that she keeps on saying how she knows I'm reliable)
   
9. grape juice.