Home Is Where Your Stuff Is

I moved into my current apartment in Austin last May, and my lease is almost up. I just picked up the paperwork to give my 30 days' notice. Sorry, apartments. You've been pretty nice except for the time you cited my friend Jim for "littering" his porch when in actuality a patio table and some plants are not "litter," really. I digress. The opportunity has presented itself to live a little closer to one of my jobs - "on site" if you will, and it also happens to make huge financial sense. Starting in May I'll be part-timing it in Austin in a rented room (not an apartment with a lease) and then other-part-timing it near the nifty town of Wimberley, Texas. The Boss has offered the use of a trailer on her property (next to a river be still my heart), so when I'm not sitting in the van going somewheres, that's where I'll lay my head...when I'm not laying my head in Austin. It's a little pieced together, except I've been living in my current place half time already it seems, so this isn't going to be that big of a shift except I'll be cutting my bills big time. This makes the frugal nerve in me twinge with joy. So I have about a month and a half to sort out my possessions and see where everything goes. My essential furniture will fit into my Austin room, since I pretty much live in one room anyway. I had a studio my first 2 years here and upgraded to a one bedroom...except I still just sleep and work in my bedroom anyway. The living room has been a good...bookshelf holder. It means Getting Rid of Stuff which is simultaneously daunting and exhilarating. I mentioned that I helped The Boss clean out her shed last week (partly so I can put some of my stuff in it), and you see how much you have that you don't really NEED to have. I know for a fact that there are things in my apartment I have not touched since I moved them up the 3 flights of stairs to get them there. Ouch. Away it goes. Except I might take some books back to New Mexico to live with Mom and Dad for a while. Books are great, even when you don't have anywhere to put them for the moment. Haha, Mom and Dad! Surprise! I'll admit it, it's not a typical living style choice, although...whatever. I have friends in grad school who live in student housing, and I have friends who have chosen to travel the world and sleep in hostels or huts in Africa. There is no typical in your 20's, I suppose. I think the chance to snowball some credit card payments and save up for making EP 2 is a good one, and the flexibility to tour some more with the Boss will only add to the experiences that will make up EPs 2, 3 and beyond. So that's my long winded way of saying...email me if you want a 13" TV, haha. If home is where you hang your hat...well...

Banjo Po

Well then. I didn't mean for this week's posting to consist of accounts of people I like a lot GIVING me stuff, but that's what happens and by gawd I'm ok with it. Y'all know I work at Red Leaf School of Music - which is, might I say humbly, the best music school in Austin with the coolest teachers on staff. I teach some guitar and office manage. It's a great thing that keeps my lights on and lets me laugh a lot because Dan and Geno are fun dudes to work for and with and I will not end this sentence with a preposition. Anyway, in true music school style, Geno and Dan presented me with a banjo yesterday. Apparently they want me around. Apparently I like them a lot because I have been stalking the Craigslist ads for months waiting for a banjo to come my way. How did they know? Nifty. Geek with a banjo.

County Mementos

During my time at Travis County, I received a few "thanks for being an employee" tokens. While I didn't work there long enough to get a gold watch, I did receive a sweet coffee mug (which, if you know me, you know it gets used a lot). Two mugs, hehhehheh. I also received a couple of these metal...things. They're round. They commemorate agricultural extension in Texas. They're shiny. I'm not sure what their purpose is, and they came in a plain white box. They're heavy. If I threw one at you it would probably kill you. Weapon. "Random. A mug...and a flat round thing. Hmmm." "Wait a minute..." Victory!

Day 3 of the Newness

Can I just say that right now I am at a coffeehouse at 12:45 PM in the afternoon? And it's not like I have a "day off." It's just my day's flow now. I'm going into Red Leaf in a little while and the students will be there en masse and so it goes from now on. I told myself that this week would be a slow tranistion kind of thing with rest and time to plan my schedule. I thought I'd kind of treat it like a "vacation" which...based on my usual crazy busy schedules...usually meant I slept a lot and accomplished little. That's how vacations in college and at the county used to roll, anyway. This time, though, I guess my brain knows something is up and doesn't want to be a giant pile of lazy. So I have been to the gym and stocked up on groceries (the fridge before consisted of corn tortillas, water, and an onion...I let it get pretty desolate last week!) and worked on Red Leaf stuff and worked on guitar stuff and various other things. Cleaned my apartment. Worked on a new song. I need to start thinking about moving. Anyone have boxes? And a large van? And a decent chord progression? Haha. So that's where we are. Caffeination and Getting Stuff Done. PS: Dan's got a photo blog of his tour life up! Go to Tumblr to check it out.

The Weekend That Was

Oh kids, I am a little tired. Friday I left work, went to sign my new apartment lease, and then hit the road. I was a little scared as to how the day started, though...with a weird incidence of traffic on my usually smooth commute. Luckily I had the Bimbo truck to entertain me. Insert your own joke and entertain yourselves, too! But soon I was on the road headed north looking like a...well, a driving person. Person who drives. Right. "Excuse me, do I have windshield in my eye?" I had a nice drive to Winnsboro, which is pretty much as far east in Texas and I've been ever, I think. They call it the Piney Woods, and if you would believe it, it is populated by pine trees. Gorgeous. I went there to visit my friend Kate and her folks, who own a fabulous music venue in downtown Winnsboro called Crossroads Coffeehouse and Music Co. What a killer amazing spectacular place! It's something I think I want to attempt in the future and I think business partner Josh will agree (somewhere else, of course, like in New Mexico)...a music venue/instrument store/place to hang out. Drool. Drooooooooool. Lynn and Lindy (aka the duo Adler and Hearne, who played Saturday night, and who were awesome) have created a great place to hear music. I like that. Kate played with them on their set and rocked. Of course. Rehearsing. Most of the time you find a beer and a cigarette on stage with a musician. Kate's gear includes gum, a cell phone, and a frappucino. I like that. Robin and Linda Williams and Their Fine Group were the main act and I have seen them twice before back in Albuquerque. They're great performers and now I pretty much need to buy a banjo. Linda makes her's sing. Mine might cluck or screech for a while, but I'd like to know my way around it a little more for sure. I'm excited to go back to Winnsboro soon -- at the latest I'll be there July 5th opening for Susan Gibson. Woohoo! We'll have a time. For now, I think I will concentrate on the fact that I don't have to be at work at 7:30 AM tomorrow. What does Monday hold? Possibilities are endless.

Exit Signs

Oh no. Someone found the "comic book" setting in photo booth. I did my first ever exit interview yesterday. It was short and sweet. I don't know if it's people in Austin's musically steeped culture particularly, or maybe people who have hired a lot of employees and been around the block -- but I have been getting a lot of honest "good for you's" in reference to switching over to Red Leaf to work. From people at the county, too. That's nice...transitions can be stressful or not depending on the mood around you when you're making the change. I have gotten a few, "Giving up sweet government benefits, hmmm?" comments...but I don't go to work every day just so I can get my teeth cleaned for free once a year. (For the record...I'm buying my own insurance. No sense in being a "starving artist" type with no means to go to the doctor in this day and age. That is so 1968 commune chic). ---------------- DIGRESSION ALERT! ---------------- Also I would like to point out for the record that as I was graduating with my history degree a couple of years ago, someone looked me in the eye and said, "Congratulations. Would you like fries with that?" Yes I would. Fries and a side of LIVIN' THE DREAM. ------------------------- PHEW ---------------------------- For the most part, though -- people who spend time around me know how I spend all my "non-working-hours" and they approve of how working at a music school aligns with that. I guess in the end we should all cheer our fellow humans on to whatever lights their fire. Delight in their successes and transitions. Give them a good word when they have a moment of doubt. That keeps the world full of excellence with plenty to go around for the next set of seekers, stumblers, and happy souls.