You guys. Transitions are HARD. Remember a few months ago when I was all, oh hey, it’s summer, isn’t this great, but why isn’t anybody calling me for stuff? Now I’m like, oh my gosh, I’m so tired and I’m running around and everybody is calling and emailing me except for the people I’m waiting to hear from, and I’ve had rehearsal every night till 10…it’s pretty invigorating though!

I’m trying to stay organized and up on things, and while I’ve let a few things slip unintentionally, I think I’m getting a grip on everything that I need to do. There is definitely something to the idea that the more you have to do, the more scheduled and organized you have to be, the more you get done. I’ve practiced more this past week that I did any one week during the summer, and that’s definitely not because I have more time: it’s because I have less time and I know it needs to get done.

The academic year gives a nice ebb and flow to life though. This was Louie’s first week of classes (he is a lecturer at the college), and he’s been crazy busy getting everything going…but you know there’s only so many weeks (15 or so) of this, and then it’s a break for a bit. It keeps you sane, but keeps life interesting. Or at least that’s what we tell ourselves.

I’m working pretty much straight through the month of September, and then October will give me a little breather. I’m still not sure how this will all work…this week I’ve been pushing through knowing that I have Sunday and Monday  off (LABOR DABOR) and then that’s it, no more days off for the foreseeable future. You’ll hear about it too, for sure! But I’m loving the Evita show so far, and it’s good to see my students again and I’m getting them ready for festivals and recitals and teaching them vibrato and theory and other things I’d been sort of trying to ignore…basically I’m starting the school year full speed ahead WHILE trying to pace myself. I realize that actually might not make any sense, but it does to me. In other words, I feel energized.

So since I’m not blogging about our trip to SC, I will at least mention the cats. CATS.

(This picture makes me see how much we really should consider redoing the stairs to the basement, but…there are bigger house issues.)

When I got the mail after the trip, there was a notice from the City Health Department/Animal Control. They wanted $50 to register Muriel! It seems that if you give your pet a rabies shot but they aren’t spayed or neutered they want $50 from you. If you have had your pet spayed or neutered you only owe $4 which has already been paid by the vet. It’s a good idea—it encourages people to spay or neuter their pets, BUT it also seems to me that it discourages people who haven’t done so from getting their pets rabies shots. I then found out that Miles had received the same letter at the home he first lived! Even though they received their rabies shots three months or so apart, the city must only check these things every once in awhile. No worries, both little guys are spayed and neutered now.

Muriel DOES fit into my lunch bag. It’s a large lunch bag, so it’s not terribly surprising that she fits. Now there is probably cat fur all over though!

One of the things that Louie and I always say about Muriel is that she is a very stereotypical CAT. All the cat things you think of, she does them. She’s adorable and predictable like that. I think she must have read a book on how to be a cat and followed it to the letter. She is helping Miles better understand how cats are to behave.

In any case: that’s where I am today. I have 2 rehearsals ahead of me, and then tomorrow I’m teaching in the morning and have a wedding/cocktail hour in the afternoon that is a bit of a drive so it takes up a good portion of time. And then two days off—planning on a movie/dinner thing with friends, hopefully a bike ride, and who knows what else…probably watching OITNB and Ozark, house cleaning, some cooking, relaxing, and that’s about it