Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

thoughts

Thoughts right now.

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It’s close to the wire, and I haven’t drawn up any speaking points. I was out all night at my crazy amalgam jobby/hob in assisting with Lyndzpalooza’s open mic, where I at once have to represent our organization, rock my own music, and make Arcati Crisis seem awesome and alluring with just a handful of songs.

Tonight was a success on all fronts, so I’m feeling pretty good about the state of me at the moment, not only because it’s a good state to be in, but also because I’m just able to be in it.

Having eight years of blog to read in my spare moments is a wonderful reminder of how I’ve changed over time. Even if it’s an over-reduction to claim that the atoms in your cells are refreshed every seven years, as reductions go at least it’s illustrative – an eight-years-younger you shouldn’t look like the same person. There are now some memories I have forgotten, that if it wasn’t for this blog would have disappeared from my life entirely.

I like to claim that I haven’t changed materially, but that’s just a function of that forgetfulness – maybe a willful one. Clearly I have changed. Not just the superficial ways – the lack of curl in my hair, or the newfound power in my voice. Not just my newfound ability to be in a steady state. I express my opinions differently. My confidence is more tempered, and my fear of failure more subtle. I play my worries much closer to my chest, and they’re a lot more complex than wondering who I’ll kiss next.

Reading old CK makes me afraid that in exchange for my steadiness I don’t see as many colors in the world. I used to delight in church bells and saxophones, and all the colors they brought out in the world. When is the last time I saw that color in sound?

I also used to post every fifteen minutes.

Some things are better left in the past.

Preoccupational Hazards

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Tonight was my one night off for the week, except I wanted to spend it on – do some blogging, maybe start my next Trio.

That wasn’t meant to be. I had some more pressing concerns to attend to, such as washing dishes and laundry. And, I’m not just talking about from a normal “chore” perspective. No. This was a no drinking glasses left and completely out of pants situation.

You might laugh at my situation. Ha!, you might think, he seems to be so together with his podcasts and his Groom Team, but it’s an illusion! You might continue to gloat, Aside from his yuppy job he’s living the slovenly, disorganized life of a lazy bachelor.

Yet, that’s just not the case – and not just because I’m living merrily in sin with Elise. I’m certainly spending time being clean, orderly, and tenacious outside of my yuppy occupation – it’s just that the time is invested in all of my yuppy pre-occupations.

At this point I have so many non-occupational jobs that it’s not unusual for a week to go by without me even finding the time to do a single load of laundry. Take this week, for example.

I spent half the weekend recording and mixing the four songs in the last two posts, and the other half working on an arrangement for Drexel’s all-female acappella group. Monday I spent a few hours cleaning up the back-end CK, and then I went to a concert of someone who is playing at my wedding. Tomorrow night I’ll be co-hosting an open mic with the other half of Arcati Crisis, and on Thursday I’m the artist liaison at our Lyndzapalooza Fall Mixer.

Did you catch all of that? Recording engineer, transcriptionist, network administrator, event planner, rock star, and A&R rep. That’s six hobbies that I’ve turned into part-time jobs. Hobs? Jobbies?

At least with the latter half of wedding, AC, and LP I knew from the start that I was getting into something that was both time-consuming and rewarding. However, the former three – CK, arranging, and DIY recording – all started out as innocent distractions from the rest of my life. I never meant for them to become staying up until 3am, working until I nod off in my chair sorts of engagements. It just turned out that way.

Is this insane or just slightly abnormal? Do you have jobs aside from what you do for a living and taking care of your home and family? If you do, did you choose to make them a priority, or did they sneakily transform into one over time?

!

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I think it’s officially projectable: we’re at a tie on my projection, and even if Obama drops all of the rest of the states (unlikely) he’d win a tie-break Obama has crossed the 270 threshold.

Currently Projected: DE, VT, DC, ME, NH, RI, CT, MD, MN, WI, MA, NJ, MI, IL, NY, PA

Safely Assumed: HI, NM, IA, OR, WA, CA, NC

(9:23 – MSNBC just called OH, which wasn’t on either of my lists, so now it’s really over.)

(9:25 – Every time I start talking I start crying.)

Half Husband, Half Bachelor. All Yuppy.

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A few minutes ago Elise visited my office to give me a stern warning that if I didn’t eat breakfast and put on pants I’d be hungry and pantless while we shopped for her wedding band.

In response, I fixed myself a hearty bowl of low-fat granola, sample wedding cake, and rice milk.

If only the pants issue was that easy to solve.

Not Packing

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Here I am, home early from work, writing about life when I should be hurriedly packing to depart for Kat’s wedding in Vermont.

I would be here an hour earlier, procrastinating from a more leisurely regime of packing. Except, I spent the 7-8 a.m. timeslot this morning herding cats.

Yes, this means we are still acting as Elise & Peter’s kitten boarding house.

Last night we had a friend of a friend come by to attempt to offer some basic veterinary services to the trio of kittens, and they were having none of it. We managed to adopt one out to a friend before the night was out, and this morning was devoted to transferring the remaining pair out of the powder room (where they had taken up a potentially permanent residence under our sink) and into Gina’s generously donated crate.

If I made that sound easy it’s mostly because I have to stop blogging and start packing.

Speaking of which…