Episode XXVIII: Catching up

Has it really been five months since I last wrote? I guess I do believe it...sorry to all of you with whom I have not communicated. I have gotten some emails from you asking why I have stopped reading, and yet other emails who clarify to me that what I am doing is, indeed, a blog, whether or not I put it together on Blogger.com. I hear you! I’ve just not been very communicative lately.

But on to the adventures! October sailed by with not too much complaint. I started out at the new church job, and it’s worked out very well. I get along with the other three soloists very well, and the choir director, although a little bit of a stress case, is a very nice man. No complaints yet!

November was also unexciting, which was odd because I usually get very animated when my birthday rolls around. However, I turned 29 on a apathetic, rainy Wednesday. Ray took me out for dinner, which I was excited about, because I had chosen to eat at “The Pirate’s Inn on the Waterfront” close by our house. Unfortunately, they had been taken over by new management and were doing business as an overpriced Italian joint with a disappointing menu. Ah, well, I guess 29 isn’t really an exciting age anyhow. I’ll have to make up for it this November with my 30th birthday.

December got much more lively, with a visit from my mother for Christmas. It was so wonderful to see her, especially since she had flown all the way from balmy Hawaii to frozen New Jersey just to see me! Unfortunately, I came down with the worst flu in the world the day she arrived, and by the time she left, 6 days later, she had contracted my Flu of Death. It was actually somewhat comical, because the day we had planned to have a family dinner (with my mom there and Ray’s parents coming over to the house for the first time as dinner guests), both of us were working at about 50%. Since I was most likely past the contagious stage, I opted to make the food, with my mom helping me by yelling out suggestions from the couch while watching TV. She kept trying to come into the kitchen to help, and I would keep shooing her out. By the time the Brehms showed up, my mom had exhausted herself from her frequent trips back and forth to the kitchen, and she had to excuse herself before dessert was served. Luckily, I know the next family dinner could only get better than this one…right?

After my mother left – in fact, a few hours after I had dropped her off at the airport – our downstairs bathroom started flooding. By the time anyone noticed it, there was about two inches of water in the bathroom, with the water flowing out into the hallway and the kitchen, with insidious waves of water gurgling up from the base of the toilet. I felt like I was in a scene from the B-horror flick, Drainiac (which my friend Ethan is in, and is now available on VHS or for rent at your neighborhood Blockbuster).

Fortunately for us, we had a Shop-Vac (I love those things!) which was able to vacuum up the water after we had turned the water off at the base of the toilet. Ray wanted to ask his plumber friend to come and fix it (knowing that at least his friend wouldn’t rape us over the prices), but his friend was gone for the weekend, so we didn’t get the damned thing fixed for three days. Not only that, but when we finally got in touch with him, his response was that it sounded like a sewage problem, which he doesn’t do, and that we should call Roto-Rooter. Roto-Rooter showed up, and within 20 minutes fixed our problem. Unhappily, the beautiful wooden flooring tiles in the bathroom were warped and ruined, so we had to tear them up. We’re still trying to figure out what should go on the floor now.

In January, I made a New Year’s resolution to finally make a demo CD. I originally made it a goal because of a competition I wanted to enter, but the deadline actually crept up on me a little bit faster than I had anticipated, so I bagged that idea. I then decided that I would get it done by April, but now that I see April looming ahead of me with no free time to practice, I think I’m going to have to postpone it until the summer, when I know I’ll have a little more free time. But I am serious about it, and I’m working on my music when I can; I just don’t want to have a half-assed product to send out to people, ya know?

In the meantime, the temp job that I had been working at, a transcription agency, asked to hire me on as a permanent employee. I’m still part-time, but I’m on their payroll and am making a little bit more per hour as a result. The great part about this job is their flexibility; they totally understand that my singing comes first, so if I have to not be there one week here or a few days there, they don’t mind. And I’m guaranteed to have at least three days a week of work if I want it.

The end of January and the whole month of February has been nothing but singing, singing, and more singing. In fact, I’m still in the midst of that and don’t see an end to it until May. I’m very grateful for that, but between that and this transcription job, it’s been hard to find time for myself. I’ve come to appreciate the value of a day off or an afternoon off!

In my miniscule amounts of free time, I’ve been planning my garden for this year. Ray just helped me put up some shelves and grow lights so I can start my seeds indoors, and today I just planted my first seeds in my new growing system. I also managed to get a little destructive out in the garden and pulled up a dying dwarf Japanese maple tree with a pickaxe, a shovel, a little leverage and BRUTE STRENGTH! Okay, I had a little help from Ray at the end, but my superpowers helped me even when my muscles were starting to give out. Who needs a gym when I’ve got a pickaxe?

That’s about it for my adventures – at least for now. I’ve also been following a lot of the political scene lately, since I listen to a lot of NPR in my car, and I could go off on a few rants, but I’m not really in the mood to write all that down right now. I’m currently putting together a small website with the Human Rights Campaign, which is following the issue of gay marriage. If you are interested in this issue, or if you want to do something to prevent Bush from writing a clearly discriminatory amendment to the U.S. Constitution, please go visit it and let me know what you think.

I miss you, and I hope you are well. I know I haven’t been much of a communicator lately, but try me. I might just write you back.