yarrrd work...

So, it's been a whirlwind two weeks. My parents showed up a couple days after we got back from California and are still here. It's been great. We got to spend some time at the beach with them and the dogs just relaxing. It's been a long time since I've unwound. Of course, I'm always a little bit unwound to begin with.

We got back from Emerald Isle last Friday and my mom, dad and I went straight to work on the gardening. My mother isn't a very good "sitter". She needs to keep busy or she goes stir crazy. Bonus for me. My yard was a mess. So, inside a week, I have two new retaining walls, 15 new plants and my yard actually looks like someone who cares might live here.

I've also been building a small recording studio for voice-over narration at Duke this week. Fun. It was like Trading Spaces. One designer, $300.00. It turned out nice and the folks who commissioned me to do it are very happy with it. Another good mark on my record that will hopefully land me that full-time job I'm always babbling about.

Hooray for NC...

Man, it feels good to be back home. My parents arrived yesterday and we're all going out to the Emerald Isle tomorrow for a little vacation time. Nice. Especially since they are picking up the tab for the rental house. Rare.

I talked with Dawn at Duke this week and it seems like they are trying hard to create a full-time position for me over there. I hope it happens by September so we don't have to scratch for too many out of town gigs in the Fall. Truthfully, I'm done with road work. I've seen the world because of this dance, but I'm ready to cut the touring schedule back for awhile. That's not to say that we would ever quit completely. We love it too much. I just need to be doing less and spending more time with Sharon and the dogs.

Done...

Festival over. We probably broke even, although, we'll probably never know for sure. Our accounting practices are, um, shoddy. Or at least, suspect. I find it hard to believe that this was our sixth year. Everything goes fast.

The Bay Area was fun to visit, sort of. It's fun to have access to things that you don't have at home. And on the other hand, the Bay Area is a gigantic pain in the ass populated (mostly) by people who, through constant exposure to stress and competition, have been transformed in to complete assholes. Honestly, is it really THAT great or are you just so afraid of change and so good at deluding yourself that you are willing to pay half a million dollars for a studio condo? Answer? B. Fine. If it keeps you from moving here, good. Oh, and to the guy who yelled at me to get to the back of the line at the coffee shop, when, in fact, I was just reaching over the counter to pick up my order which I had placed earlier: FUCK YOU you sactimonious piece of shit. You're lucky I didn't knock out every one of those pretty teeth that you paid so much for. I hope I guessed right when I keyed the Jaguar in front.

Really, there are only two rules to live by:

1. Expect the best from people and you'll usually get it.
2. You never know who you're fucking with, so don't.

Simple.

Wow. Reading this back, I sound angry. I'm not.

Blogging from swing camp...

I'm actually sitting at the front desk right now, blogging. That's how smoothly the festival is running this year. I love it. We actually lucked out and got some last minute regitrations, so it looks like we may break even. Knock wood. And all of the sudden, it's mayhem! Gotta go.

Home? Again.

After a harrowing and death defying trip to Dulles, we boarded a plane to Oakland at 6:00am yesterday morning and safely arrived in California six hours later. I took a personal day and went to Palo Alto with my friend Manu to dork out and look at really expensive ukuleles. Fuck you, it was fun. I narrowly avoided pulling out a credit card, but better judgement prevailed for once. Thank God.

Today we are going to the A's game and then we actually have to get to work. Boo.

Back to Cali...

Time for the Summer trip to the West Coast. Mixed feelings about it. If it was a vacation, it would be one thing, but we're going back to run our annual swing festival and it's always a ton of work. Good work, but work nonetheless. At the very least, it will be nice to see all of our friends for a day or two.