September in Review
Okay, I kinda lost interest in the blogging challenge I was doing because the more involved I was in the community it involved (a buncha independent artists hoping to get free publicist services or at least jumpstart their own PR work) , the less interested I was in them and in the prize itself.
And FB has definitely sapped my drive to blog.
But here's September in hindsight: launching the school year was a demoralizing fiasco and I really pissed off some people above me on the ladder by responding honestly to some questions that were sposta be kept confidential. Which was naive of me. But other than that and the appalling class sizes, the school year got off to a pretty good start and continues to proceed nicely. The gap between my F'real Gifted Kids and my slack-jawed slackers whose parents pushed them into the program seems a lot more prominent than usual, but at least they're 30 pretty nice kids.
The Ramblewood gig fell through. I didn't have the energy to catch the Dirty Projectors when they were in town. The TED Brunch Salon (With Mimosas!) fell through. The photo shoot fell through. The Gazebo show fell through. The H St. Festival gig fell through. The Palace of Wonders show very nearly fell through several times. I succeeded in putting together a pretty good hardcopy digest edition of Manko's Mutant Muse, but it turns out nobody's going to Rakkasah to take any there, and nobody was interested in it at the Palace show as anything but paper airplane material. The paper airplanes themselves didn't fare any better. The one party I made it to was cool but I didn't stay long. I didn't finish all the recording I'd aimed to finish, but that deadline was mainly self-imposed. And in general my care of my body took a nosedive as I became reblitzed with the deluge of the Dayjob and the Nightlife.
On the upside, I helped the Valentines move, yay. I honestly love helping people move. The Farmer's Market gig with the Floating Rock Band was a lot of fun, and very well-received, and yet also transpired such that it made it easier to leave the group. The Godfather (of the Richmond Folk Mafia) has video, but I failed to secure any myself (this has been happening a lot - I show up for gigs armed with video equipment, etc. but get so wrapped up in doing the show that I don't bother documenting it, which I do think is better than when things go the other way around). MC'ing Tribal Cafe was a delight and went well, as did the REAL Last Show At The Palace of Wonders. I finished tweaking a few remixes The Client really liked. And I found a venue for the DC Tribal Equinox hafla, which should go well Sunday. The flashmob went well. I bought some cool toys and tools and put 'em to work (and play). Did some good guitar study. Wrote a poem and a song I like. And I had friends over to spend an evening playing and hanging out, which was really great.
On the whole, I'd have to say about half the stuff I've tried to do has failed, often dramatically, and yet by trying to do soooo damn much I still wound up with an action-packed month. And as it all ends I can definitely see & say that, um, I seem to be trying and succeeding at a lot of stuff that would've been kinda "out of character" for me six months ago (or for the first 42 years of my life in general).
The world seems newer and wilder and cooler and more full of possibility than it's been in a long time, and I'm dancing and playing and smiling in it.
And grateful.
And FB has definitely sapped my drive to blog.
But here's September in hindsight: launching the school year was a demoralizing fiasco and I really pissed off some people above me on the ladder by responding honestly to some questions that were sposta be kept confidential. Which was naive of me. But other than that and the appalling class sizes, the school year got off to a pretty good start and continues to proceed nicely. The gap between my F'real Gifted Kids and my slack-jawed slackers whose parents pushed them into the program seems a lot more prominent than usual, but at least they're 30 pretty nice kids.
The Ramblewood gig fell through. I didn't have the energy to catch the Dirty Projectors when they were in town. The TED Brunch Salon (With Mimosas!) fell through. The photo shoot fell through. The Gazebo show fell through. The H St. Festival gig fell through. The Palace of Wonders show very nearly fell through several times. I succeeded in putting together a pretty good hardcopy digest edition of Manko's Mutant Muse, but it turns out nobody's going to Rakkasah to take any there, and nobody was interested in it at the Palace show as anything but paper airplane material. The paper airplanes themselves didn't fare any better. The one party I made it to was cool but I didn't stay long. I didn't finish all the recording I'd aimed to finish, but that deadline was mainly self-imposed. And in general my care of my body took a nosedive as I became reblitzed with the deluge of the Dayjob and the Nightlife.
On the upside, I helped the Valentines move, yay. I honestly love helping people move. The Farmer's Market gig with the Floating Rock Band was a lot of fun, and very well-received, and yet also transpired such that it made it easier to leave the group. The Godfather (of the Richmond Folk Mafia) has video, but I failed to secure any myself (this has been happening a lot - I show up for gigs armed with video equipment, etc. but get so wrapped up in doing the show that I don't bother documenting it, which I do think is better than when things go the other way around). MC'ing Tribal Cafe was a delight and went well, as did the REAL Last Show At The Palace of Wonders. I finished tweaking a few remixes The Client really liked. And I found a venue for the DC Tribal Equinox hafla, which should go well Sunday. The flashmob went well. I bought some cool toys and tools and put 'em to work (and play). Did some good guitar study. Wrote a poem and a song I like. And I had friends over to spend an evening playing and hanging out, which was really great.
On the whole, I'd have to say about half the stuff I've tried to do has failed, often dramatically, and yet by trying to do soooo damn much I still wound up with an action-packed month. And as it all ends I can definitely see & say that, um, I seem to be trying and succeeding at a lot of stuff that would've been kinda "out of character" for me six months ago (or for the first 42 years of my life in general).
The world seems newer and wilder and cooler and more full of possibility than it's been in a long time, and I'm dancing and playing and smiling in it.
And grateful.