Sirens, Singing, and States -- The Last Few Days

This title doesn't appear to make a lot of sense, but indeed it will.

So basically, I have been busy as hell ever since the Spring.  Well... even since before that.  Not that I'm complaining -- I have managed to quit an awful, full-time life-sucking day job to become a self-employed artist.  I'm not going to lie, that's pretty cool.

Of course, even if the grass truly is greenest on your side of the fence, no one told you that there are still bugs.  The beauty of making your own schedule teaching private piano and voice lessons is that you can, to an extent, control your schedule.  Of course, you need to make sure that your student isn't in SCHOOL when you want to teach them, so you do need to work around a particular set of constraints.  Also, it's pretty important to establish returning clients so that you can actually have work... thus providing funding for food, clothing, and shelter.

So... yeah.  It's been a lot of fun coordinating everyone's schedule, but so far everything is working out quite well.  I am even working on outside projects with my newly-formed jazz trio (with guest artist appearances).  Solo career, teaching classes, private lessons... life is great!

So what about sirens?  This really isn't so much of a story as it is an embarrassing blurb.  So... why not put it on the internet?  That's a great idea.  Besides, you can't spell "embarrassed" without "ass"... or "bare-assed",  for that matter.

I arrived at the studio and met my appointments.  I entered the building, entered the code on the keypad, and much to my chagrin the entire world started crumbling.  Well, maybe not.  But still -- the ENTIRE building and nearby shopping district was a buzz with a freakin' loud siren.  Luckily, the SWAT team didn't show up, but I was right abashed.  NOT a great ice-breaker with a new student.

So other than music and theater ventures, I have started yet another project.  Because I know that this one will take me for-bloody-ever and that I need to work on my other WIPs, I have allowed myself to let this project linger.

Well, more like languish, and I didn't really need to give myself permission to do that.

It's really cool, actually -- it's a huge collection of washcloths, each the silhouette of a US State and the State's abbreviation.  It's educational!  I am knitting it up in solid-colored cotton yarn, and will eventually stitch them all together for a big geographical cotton blanket!  I hope this doesn't suck.  So far, I have Alaska, Alabama, and I'm working on Arizona.

I realized that I had a lot of cotton yarn that I need to use, but now that I'm knitting it up, I realize that while I could make the entire blanket from my worsted cotton stash, limiting my colors to red, black, brown, white, neon blue, and neon green won't really make an attractive blanket.  Furthermore, if I have a cubic ton of cotton yarn, the last thing I want to do is go buy more cotton yarn.  Hopefully the people I know who want to destash their solid-colored cotton yarn will find me and keep me motivated.

Until then, I will just plod along doing what I can.  Eventually I need to finish a second glove, a doily/blanket, a few scarves, and some other stuff?  I'm not even sure anymore.  WHY, by the way, would a glove be really tight around the thumb hole on one hand, but feel fine on the other?  I don't get it.

This has been going on for far too long, so I'm going to stop......

....not yet.....

.....

.....

...nope, wait for it.....

...

.....wait for it.....

...

...

...

...now.