A Schedule Tighter Than A Gnat's Ass...

I actually updated my Google Calendar yesterday - and it kinda scared the piss outa me. Not because I can't do it, but I got to see laid out in front of me how overbooked I can get. Pretty much any gaps in my schedule are commute time between obligations. This week's not exactly typical, but not off by much. Tonight is (unexpectedly) a bit free, but the later evening is filled with learning track stuff. I have to try and get the last 2 or 3 songs done for this quartet so I can now do another one for a fellow chorus member.

I was supposed to have quartet rehearsal with our substitue bass tonight to prep for our surprise gig this weekend at the Flint Applewood Fall Festival. This is our longest-standing regular gig. We've done this for the past 3 years running, along with occasional other gigs there for the Ruth Mott Foundation. We adore this gig. It's basically 3 hours of strolling around the beautiful grounds, singing what we want for small crowds of very appreciative patrons and volunteers. It's low pressure, gorgeous surroundings, friendly people...and a good paycheck.

This year, I started e-mailing our key contacts at Applewood about June, saying that we were booking up fast (a slight exaggeration, perhaps), and they should drop us an e-mail with the details soon so we can plan it in (yea - between opening for the Rolling Stones and our whirlwind sold-out European Tour). Anyway, 3 monthly e-mails went by with nary a peep from our favorite clients. I figured we'd been dumped due to budget issues. They usually start asking for us by July at the latest.

Last week, I get an e-mail from one of our contacts asking for names to put on the checks! ACK! With our regular bass out of town and a week to try and figure out how to cram this into my schedule (which is already packed in tighter than sausage meat in a casing), I sent out a flurry of e-mails and texts to the guys to see if we can do it. Luckily, we were all just free enough to fit it in. Being our best clients, an excellent opportunity to pass out business cards, a truly fun gig, and some much needed dough, I didn't want to pass this up.

I found out yesterday that our ringer bass can't make the only night I was available for a rehearsal this week, so we're going to do this one dry. I'm not worried. Our set list is mostly chorus songs we know backward and forward and we're so much tighter - even with a ringer bass - than we were a couple years ago, we'll still sound great. The trick is, this gig comes right in the middle of an extremely rare, semi-impromptu visit from my dad, and I want to try and fit in time to visit.

So I'm laying it all our in my Google Calendar yesterday and it goes like this:

Wed - 7:30: kids to school
9am: work
6:30: home, make dinner
8:30: kids to bed
9pm: Blitz-clean house
10pm: learning tracks
Midnight: bed

Thurs - 7:30: kids to school
9am: work
6:30: Home, dinner, family 5th birthday celebration for my baby girl
8:30: Kids to bed
9pm: Blitz-clean house
10pm: Learning Tracks
Midnight: bed

Fri - 7:30 kids to school
9am: work
6:30: work at Blockbuster
10pm: stop by AJ Coffee House to catch a friend's performance
11pm: home
Midnight: bed

Sat: - 8am: get kids up and dressed while Sonya head to a Garden Club breakfast
9am: MAJOR blitz-clean of house
10:30am: Meet with dad and head to gig (nice convo on drive)
11:30am: Meet with the quartet to warm up

Noon: Gig at Applewood Estates, Flint
3:30pm: Lunch with dad and quartet

4:30pm: Drive home
6pm: Work Blockbuster
10pm: Home

Sun: - 8am: get everyone up and moving, clean up, set up birthday party (Keiser Edition)
Noon: Courtney's birthday party for my side of the family

The rest of Sunday will be visiting with family and subsequent clean-up. Gonna be a FULL weekend.

Outa time. Gotta head to work. (deep breath)

Okay...let's DO this thing!!