Hella Stella

What a week.

I've spent the last month preparing for an Exciting Musical Opportunity that took place last night. It's not the sort of thing I can explain at length here, sadly, but I'll give you all the juicy details when it all blows over. I will say that the experience has been both flattering and terrifying, and I occasionally (usually) feel totally out of my league.

That being said...

I now have a lot more faith that I'll be able to turn music into an actual career someday, which is not something Practical Stella would normally consider. Just gotta slay that debt, baby.

Anyways, now my voice is tired, my fingertips hurt, and I could use a good sleep. The only musical event on the horizon is my show at the Black Sheep next Sunday (the 7th) and then I'm pretty sure I've got nothing booked for a while.

By the way, you're all invited to that show... It's a matinee, my favourite, starting at 4pm. There will be plenty of songwriters there, and we're releasing a CD of recordings from the Gallery concert series (the church that houses the music studio where my album was recorded). And I'll be playing with my cousin Brian! He's the best.

Got all that? There will be a test later.

Unrelated: My notebook arrived in the mail and now my life is complete. I missed that pile o' papers something fierce.

So here's the deal. I'm giving myself a year to get in awesome financial shape.

Yes, it's a little (a lot) overly-optimistic, considering how tight things are around here, but I've crunched the numbers and I think I can do it. My goals are pretty simple: pay off my post-album loan (yup, it's still there), pay off my credit card, be balanced by next spring.

I've got several motivating factors pushing me, other than simple common sense.

I'd like to have a clean slate when my BH finishes his degree so that we can tackle his student debt with the ferocity of a rabid mountain lion when he starts working. I can't do that if I'm still paying off my own loans.

I'd also like to have some wiggle room if I want to record another album, which will hopefully have some grant money attached to it, but still. Albums always have unexpected hiccups and I need to be able to manage them. I also want to be able to record even without grant money, although the thought of producing another self-financed behemoth makes me want to cry.

I'd like to buy a house someday, and I'm not going to get a great mortgage if I'm dragging debt behind me on my way to get approved.

I'd like to go to Japan next year without having panic attacks about money every time I take a train. That's a really stressful way to travel.

This is my grand plan. Let's see if I can do it. Jesus, it already feels like I have a giant countdown clock looking over my shoulder. I figure that I'm never going to accomplish this without being really aggressive, so aggressive I will be. Grrrrrrr.

Also, hallelujah, the Vinyl Cafe is going to play one of my songs on their show this weekend!!! I love them with the fire of a thousand suns. I actually feel a bit guilty that I don't have a shiny new album to offer them, but I think it speaks well of the old one if they're playing it two and a half years after the release.

Three cheers for the CBC! They make this whole songwriting thing feel really damn rewarding.

I left my notebook at a gig in Almonte last month.

For those of you who do not know me personally: I am hopelessly addicted to my notebook. Chronic listmakers get a bit twitchy when they don't have their goods with them. I don't know how I forgot to put it in my purse when we left the venue, but since I was also using it to hold my set list that night, I imagine that I forgot it on the stage. Lame.

Upon realizing that it was missing, I told myself to keep calm (after frantically not keeping calm and tearing apart my gig bag) and contacted the organizers to get it back. I hadn't heard anything since I sent off that e-mail. Something snapped in my brain today, so I made some calls, and spoke with the lovely wife of the person I was trying to reach. She's going to mail it to me, and assured me that she understood my twitchy nervousness, being a notebook addict herself. Thank goodness.

Losing my notebook for the better part of a month has made me reevaluate how I store my information. While the lists I keep may not be of value ot anyone but me, I go nuts without them. I store random phone numbers in there, addresses, recipes, songs and gift ideas among other things. I'm now in the process of getting better organized so that next time this happens, I'm not totally fucked. I feel better about it already. Operation Back-up Lists!

In completely unrelated news, Morty had a play date with a pit bull / shar pei / lab mix doggie last night and got humped so vigorously that he eventually just lay on the ground and sighed. Apparently my dog is quite the catch. I laughed so hard I nearly shot wine out of my nose. Go Morty go!

Oy. The vacation is over.

It's funny, but I only spent one week at home and going back to the office already seems strange. I think I'm destined for non-office work within the next five years. Let's call it a gut feeling.

I left you a little teaser about the good queer fun at Certain Sort Friday night, but instead of writing about it on Saturday, I hopped in a car and drove to Montreal. And then drove back. Okay, I wasn't the one driving, but all that exhausting Montreal goodness sapped me for posts.

Last year's Certain Sort is a blur, one which I will blame entirely on lychee martinis. This year I was working the door, so you'd think that I would be more careful with my booze intake. Not so! While I wasn't slurring my words, I was nowhere near sober. I was on the other side of the city from sober, really.

Luckily, the Venus Envy gals thought ahead and paired me with Heather for the evening. I love being paired with Heather. We somehow manage to have fun while simultaneously keeping each other in check. Which I think we did. Keeping each other in check, that is. The photographs indicate that we had a great deal of fun. I remember taking... Some of them. There was a lot of fab music and hot ladies and cleavage (we had agreed ahead of time that cleavage would be the uniform of those working the door; I did my best with what I had).

Most exciting though? I won the raffle! I've never won a raffle in my life, and my very first raffle prize was a dvd of lesbian boxing porn. Man, was I ever proud. When I got home, I woke up my BH to show him my loot. I think his response was a muffled groan instead of the expected, "Wow, what a delightful dvd of lesbian boxing porn you've got there!"

Hey, it was 3 AM. I can't blame him for wanting to sleep.

So that was the big ending to my week long vacation at home - I couldn't have asked for anything better. My BH and I have rented another season of Bones because we are hopelessly addicted. Television plus local asparagus will make this week go by quite nicely indeed.

I realize I've missed a million days of posting my vacation fun, but as it turns out, this week was a bit of a vacation from blogging too. It's been a really great rest, and now I'm grappling with the thought of it being over. Sigh.

Some things I did:

1. YOGA! I pulled my stomach muscles so badly that it hurts to laugh, but I didn 't hate it. One step at a time.

2. SWIMMING! My BH and I had a hot date at the local pool, and I happily swam ten laps. I think I'll go back. Public pools aren't as scary as I remember them being when I was a kid.

3. REHEARSAL! I've had practice with Brian almost every day this week, and may I say, we actually sound like we know what we're doing. Harmonies in sync and everything.

4. BONES! No, really, Bones the television show. We rented the third season on a whim and are now completely hooked. I liked the show fairly passively before, but I'm ready to catch up on a few years of back episodes now. It's too fun.

This evening is all about queer dancing at Certain Sort. I'll be working the door during the drunk shift (after midnight). Come on over and say hi!

1. Took Morty to the vet, where he voided his bowels on the floor out of sheer panic. Made mental note not to take him back to the vet unless absolutely necessary. He hates it there.

2. Made lasagna!

3. Wrote a song. I also wrote a song yesterday, which was the first song I had written since October. Turns out all I need to write is a quiet space and a closed door. (And a guitar, obvs)

4. Had rehearsal with Brian. Split a bottle of wine between the two of us in between songs.

5. Pondered starting my yoga challenge as planned, and realized I was drunk. Bussed to Silver City and watched Wolverine instead.

I'm now home, ready to curl up in bed with my puppy and my sweetheart. It's been a pretty nice day off.