Busy as Bees Doing Sweatshop Labor

A strange metaphor, perhaps, but it seriously seems like someone found the Busy Dial and cranked us up to eleven.  What Busy Dial, you ask?  I'll tell you.

Firstly, our tenant moved out of the cottage, allowing us to empty both of our storage units and begin Project Studio.  Figurative fires were lit under our figurative asses by the imminent arrival of summer vacation for the kids, which means that if I didn't have an actual office to go to work in, I would more than likely get zero work done while the kids were home all day.  And more imminently was the visit by my old high school buddy (and co-founder of our experimental college music project, Mozart Air Raid) Gordon and his wife Heather.  The great thing about the studio is that it can do double duty as guest quarters, as it has a very comfy (custom-made) pull-out sofa, and is self-contained with a kitchen and bathroom.  It ain't big, but it's private and comfy.

 

The reason for Gordon & Heather's visit to Seattle (from Portland) was a surprise weekend getaway for Heather's birthday (turns out she was born a day after Raechelle, same year even), spurred by the appearance of Florence + The Machine at the Showbox...

[insert all sorts of wacky antics - or "wactics" having to do with digging out last-minute tax records for the accountant]

[also insert Raechelle's birthday, in which she turned 35 and I assured her she was still gorgeous, because I'm good like that]

Now, about F+TM.  Raechelle has already put her thoughts to pixels, and it pretty much coincides with my experience.  The Showbox was the wrong venue for a theatrical show like Florence, mostly because the stage is in front of an open dance floor, so when there's a large crowd (like for Florence, for example), nobody under 6-feet tall can see anything.  In the future, Florence would do well to seek alternate venues like the Moore and Paramount theaters.

Just before the opening act for Florence took the stage, I checked my voicemail to find a message from the accountant.  Turns out Raechelle's first-time home buyer status last year + my second-time buyer status + Raechelle's new car + filing married = sweet!

We had a swell weekend, mixing casual hanging out with Gordon & Heather with being productive, including the Barmoire project and some general household organization and tidying.  We also had a fun Guitar Night: Special Birthday Edition.  Kayleigh brought her friend Lydia, and many strings were strummed.  Kayleigh has outgrown her small blue guitar, so she is now borrowing the Ovation acoustic Samantha gave me for my 22nd birthday.

Finishing off the weekend, Raechelle and I went to see The Miss Firecracker Contest, Twelfth Night's Spring production, at Youngstown.  It was directed by my stage manager on Deathtrap, and was really well done.

So now we're back to the work week, and I'm juggling several flaming batons at once:

• Writing the proposal for an anti-spam PSA with Dan
• Putting the finishing touches on the Game Master section of Arrowflight
• Making tweaks to the cover of the RADZ hardcover edition
• Working on the OA series pitch materials with Dan
• Storyboarding a music video for Kirby Krackle, which I am directing
• Getting Tyler re-registered for school
• Getting bids from contractors about the Studio (electrical, foundations, etc)
• Awaiting the arrival of my new workstation
• Awaiting the arrival of the high-gain wi-fi adapter for said workstation
• Trying to get the new website up and running

That's the Busy Dial on 11.

Aaaaand scene...