I Was In A Show...

...hence the complete lack of anything blog for two weeks (and three days). The show consumed my life and I had nothing left while it was up. Now, however, I am BACK! I've continued to declutter, just didn't have the gumption to post about it. I did lots of envelope recycling and even took a plant stand and checkbook cover down to the lobby last week. The real cleanup starts tomorrow, though, as I embark on a four-day weekend, wooooo! Normally I'm not fond of holidays, but since I've been working so much while also doing the opera, I am looking forward to four days of cleaning and decluttering. So much to do!

I have kept my room fairly neat and even managed to change the sheets the other day and rotate the mattress. I got my A/C put in the window too, because it was brutally humid for a week or so and I feared for my kitty a little bit - not to mention it was next to impossible to sleep in that muck. Of course it has cooled down the past couple nights so that I wish I had my fan back in there, but hey, at least I don't have to run the A/C night and day right now.

Results: I got a tax bill paid off during the time I was MIA, so can now start on the other one I owe. My trial period at the new job is over and it seems I am going to be hired as things are going well. I still feel on the fence about it for some reason, but I have a good time when I'm there, so I don't know. Maybe it was just scheduling issues - we resolved them this week and it should make things easier.

Let's see. I learned to listen to myself from the experience in the opera (Die Fledermaus, for any opera buffs out there). My first instinct was to turn down the role I was offered. I hemmed and hawed to myself about it and asked a few people what they thought and finally ended up accepting it, and in retrospect my first instinct was correct. I'm not sorry I did it, but I could have saved myself a lot of disappointment and frustration if I had not. The bright side is that it really made it clear to me not to settle for something I don't really want. I didn't even enjoy the performances, which has NEVER HAPPENED to me in any play/musical/opera I've done. That was the biggest letdown of all - I was never quite ON, which is unparalleled in my experience. It's truly bizarre because Fledermaus is one of the most fun operas in existence.

The audiences loved the show, though, and my friends couldn't tell I felt off, which is good. We even had a real actress, Lois Smith, come to our opening show - she did a guest stint on the soap I watch! That was a big highlight for me. The other great thing was getting to see an old college friend after over 15 years! We've both lived here for years and never knew it till the wonder of Facebook reconnected us!

Anyway, I'm not going to sing again unless I am offered a role I really, really want to do. That's the great part about knowing what you want - and about not NEEDING to perform - you can say no and not feel like you're missing out on anything. I feel very lucky that I can take it or leave it. I didn't always feel that way about singing.

I'm looking forward to a weekend of telling you all about my decluttering and cleaning!