Happy Halloween!

Hope you'll all be celebrating in style!

The Scramble

I've stepped up my job search this week and have one lead for a semi-regular job. Need more than that, though. I owe $600 to Columbia, and if I don't get that paid before we start the Spring semester, I can kiss my Master's degree goodbye.

Really hoping to land a second job or some new clients before the holidays. New clients would be easiest to schedule and probably the most profitable, but advertising hasn't turned up any new ones in a couple of months. I do pretty well by word of mouth, but those have been few and far between lately, too. I've applied for retail holiday work at Macy's (as a bartender), tons of writing and editing gigs, and a few others I'd rather not mention (no online cams, if you were wondering). If I get hired and have to work through Thanksgiving and Christmas, so be it. It sucks because I usually visit my parents around those times, but I'm at a point where I must work more NOW. I still have some stones to unturn and I'm unturning them.

How Do "They" Know These Things???

There's a hilarious quiz over on The Rejectionist's blog. In the comments section, an editor referred to a spam query about an abused woman composer.

But I didn't send it. I swear.

This gives me the same feeling I got when my gmail account advertised that I could make "lovely tinfoil hats" from used aluminum foil. I mean, how did it know?

More Coffee, Please

Today I got up early, ready to take on whatever replies that came in from all the applications, resumes, and cover letters I sent out on Friday.

And you know what? There was nothing. Nada. In fact, my recent culling of newsletter e-mails has made me realize just how little e-mail from actual people I get.

Then I remembered. It's Sunday.

"And now I'm going to play you a beautiful ballad . . . "

So we did the concert with Terence Blanchard Friday night. It was phenomenal. Can't wait to share the piece with you guys.

Terence was also great to work with all week. He's got a great sense of humor, and he's really kind. I feel really lucky to have met him.

Go Toward the LIght!

There's a light at the end of the tunnel. I'm not saying that after this week I'll be home free, but I'll at least have more time to concentrate on school work.

I'm still looking for a second job. If anyone knows of any offsite editing or proofreading jobs (part-time), send them my way. Yes, I know "offsite" and "part-time" can be oxymorons for that kind of work. : )

Uptempo '80s Tunes with Law-Related Themes

Okay, for this play I'm doing, an updated version of Twelve Angry Men, we need uptempo, fun tunes from the '80s with law themes. Yes, you read that sentence correctly.

The only one I've been able to come up with so far is "Billie Jean." Any ideas?

Creepy Limerick

I've posted a few entries to Stuart Neville's Twitfic contest for a copy of Ghosts of Belfast. Really need to learn to edit what I post, because an entry I made turned into a pretty creepy limerick:

He jilted her at the alter, so she hung herself from a rafter. Till death do us part my ass, she said, and haunted him thereafter.

It's a little too long for the rules he set, damn it. And too bad, because I think he'd really dig it since he's Irish. Irish, limerick . . . yes, bit of a stereotype. First thing I've written in months, though.

Great! and OMG!

Terence Blanchard is coming to school next week to record our jazz pieces. Excited and nervous.

If I'm Talking with My Mouth Full, It's Because I've Bitten Off More Than I Can Chew

Two rehearsals yesterday. Managed to get two cues done for one play, but have to rewrite or add a bunch of stuff to one of them. Found out last night I have a rehearsal tonight, which fucks up my plans for the week. Means I have to practice all day instead of half the day, and time I had reserved to work on cues for the other play is gone. AND the other pianist/composer gave me two more songs to practice, and if I did them note for note (which I won't), they'd be hard. Actually, they'll be hard at any rate. I have to work on them and it's time I didn't have anyway. Oh, and schoolwork? Totally taken a backseat to my gigs. I'm considering writing one of my professors and telling him I won't have our assignment ready Wednesday.

Trip downtown to get stuff off the server for school, missed the folder, wrote classmates saying Where is the fucking folder??? and only once the building was closed and I was on the train going back up to Lincoln Park did I get the answer that they were there. I mean, I knew they were there—I'd seen them—but I couldn't remember which folder sequence to look under. Sigh. (And by the way, how did the "w" make it into the word "answer"?) So now I have to make another trip, and also stop by Radio Shack to get one of those headphone jack thingies.

All this, and my financial aid is still a mess, only today I just don't have time to take care of it.

And I need a thermos, something that won't spill food all over my textbooks.

Maybe by the end of the week, things will be less stressed, but . . . we'll see. Amazed at how quickly I've turned to coffee and comfort food for support. Need to get in yoga today, too, so I don't rip anyone's head off accidentally at rehearsal.

Well, s$#!

Turns out my online account was just screwing with me. Financial aid was denied, so if I continue with school I'll be destitute.

And it turns out I suck at music editing.

Why am I doing this again?

Music Editing

So we're editing music in one of my classes. We get a clip of a scene from a film and then find existing music to create a temp score.

So far it's really really fun.

Also, yay for not being destitute. I was approved for the rest of my financial aid, so I'm just waiting for it to be disbursed to my account.

In the Thick of It

Okay. In some ways the last couple of weeks have been hell. Worries about money crowd my thoughts nearly every moment I'm awake. Actually, I guess I should say those worries would if I let them. But I've been through this sort of thing before, and I've found the best way to handle it is to cross each bridge as I come to it. Some of the bridges seem pretty fucking flimsy, if you ask me, but if they're there I know I can cross them. Otherwise I will have to build one. Which, even though we're speaking metaphorically here, is a real pain in the ass. But I'm trying to put a positive spin on this by reminding myself that even if I don't get the extra "aid" (loan), it's extra debt I'm not taking on. In the long run, that's sure to be a good thing.

My unsubsidized stafford loan was disbursed, so now all I have to come up with is rent, utilities, food, and the balance of my tuition (that is, if I don't get the rest of the aid for which I applied).

As for everything else, I have too much on my plate. I've bitten off more than I can chew for sure, but I'm in the thick of it now and it's too late to back out of any of it. Sigh. I just realized how many cliches I used in this post.

EDIT: I've calculated. I'll need one more client to pay for the balance of my tuition (that is, if it's a family of 3 taking lessons - which seems quite common for me. Otherwise I'll need 3 individual clients). To pay for upgrades in software, I'll need 3 additional clients (families). I'm advertising, and over the last couple of weeks I've added 2 clients (one family, one individual), so I'm hopeful. OTOH, I'll need more for the credit cards. Onward and upward!

Hmmm

Still no sign of more financial aid. In fact, the aid I've been awarded has yet to be fully dispersed. I've got a couple of new clients, though, so not all is lost.

Really busy already. We've got a great new instructor, Hummie Mann, who has done a lot of films (most notably Robin Hood: Men in Tights), and he has us writing weekly assignments - which I love, but so far I'm slow.

I have one playing gig that I can't believe I've said yes to, but it's too late to back out now. Just trying to tread water now . . .

"F" for Accuracy

So my financial aid award does not cover my tuition. Not sure how I'm going to survive, but I'll have plenty of fiber in my diet, what with all those cardboard boxes in the corner.

Oh wait. Those will be for my house when I become homeless.