Been a while since I blogged and work seems pretty slow today, so I figured I'd take some time (in between interruptions at work) to get some thoughts down. This'll come in 3 volumes, since it's been about a month since my last blog.
Mi Vida Loca, Part I…
Each season has its own set of craziness in my family. Winter and Spring are usually spent trying to work around my 2-3 jobs, my classes, Gentleman Songsters chorus or Coda Honor quartet events and gigs, Sonya's seasonal job with the City of Detroit, her doula/midwife births, and her duties with BirthNetwork, the kids school and/or childcare, and the inevitable odds and ends that fill up the rest of the time. Summer has all the aforementioned items, only replacing Sonya's city job with trips to her parents' cottage, more births, higher childcare costs with no school, and a slump in funds due to no paycheck from the city.
Fall, on the other hand, is total insanity. Fall usually involves everything from above PLUS more quartet gigs AND rehearsals and competitions for the Lakeview High School marching band I work with. This Fall is particularly nuts, now that Liam is in school, so we all have to get up at 7am to get Liam to school. This is particularly tough, since Sonya and I are usually night owls and up till 2am many nights.
As much as I hate the gas mileage on my SUV, I'm rather glad to have it in times like this. It becomes my home-away-from-home. I keep everything – my barbershop music, marching band music and drill charts, planner, note pad, spare shoes, instrument repair tools, spare trombone (the junkier one, lest it get broken into), mail, paperwork, even a spare blanket and pillow – in my car. Let's face it: I'm a big guy with a lotta stuff to handle at once. I need the room!
I thrive on being busy. If I'm not in motion doing something productive, I get overwhelmed with a sense of guilt and dread over what I'm neglecting. Still, it'd be nice to have a day or 2 once in a while where I could just put everything aside, grab a beer, and spend the whole day in front of the TV without worrying about the dishes, laundry, kids, cooking, cleaning, rehearsals, work, paperwork for school, home repairs, cat boxes, lawn mowing, or any of the other myriad tasks I tackle in a day.
"I would sit on my ass all day – I would do…nothing."
- Peter Gibbins (Office Space)
Guess there'll be plenty of time to do nothing when I'm dead. I hope they have Comedy Central and Cartoon network in Heaven!
I rant on this today because this week has been even more nuts than usual. Monday had me getting Liam to school, going to work, therapy appointment, marching band rehearsal (with Liam in tow due to Sonya's play rehearsal), dishes, then bed. Tuesday was getting Liam to school, work, watching the kids and doing chores while Sonya went to a play rehearsal, then bed. Wednesday was Liam to school, work, feed the kids while waiting for Leigh to be available to sit the kids, band rehearsal, sing with the quartet for our Bass's dinner party, home then bed. Thursday, Sonya got Liam to school (extra hour's sleep for me – thanks Sonya!), home, feed the kids, then off to a fund-raiser for Alternatives for Girls (chronicled in "Part III: Last Night..." blog – actually had a lot of fun!), and home to sleep.
Today, Sonya's off at a BirthNetwork convention, so I got Liam to school, recorded the voice-over narrative for the band's show, got Courtney to daycare, ran by the mall to exchange a pair of pants, off to work (where I'm wasting time and milking the clock blogging), then Sonya's dad gets the kids for the night while I go to my OTHER job at Blockbuster, then home.
Tomorrow, I have band rehearsal in the morning, drive by the Everetts' to drop off my Goddaughter's christening present (long overdue) on the way to the band's first competition in Flint. Afterwards I go to the in-laws to watch the kids while they go out, then drive home at about 11pm to catch some shut-eye. Sunday I have to try and recover the house from the past several days before a Coda Honor quartet rehearsal at 3pm to come up with a set list and banter for our gig at the Troy Daze Festival at 5pm.
Whew!
Okay, this blog was mostly for my own benefit, I guess, to work the minute-by-minute for the next few days out in my own head, but this is just a sample of Mi Vida Loca!
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