Career Opportunities

During my shower I was talking band stuff with my bandleader friend and the subject came up of a large jazz festival our big band always plays at the same hotel where my event is held, during Labor Day weekend.  I was still horribly ill when we played it last year and it was all I could do to not throw up all over the mic when I got up to sing.  The event has been on a bit of a downward spiral lately, being as it only attracts elderly people and, there’s no better way to say this, but they’re all dying off.  So my bandleader says, “Oh yeah, I got an e-mail from Wally (organizer) that they’re not doing it anymore.”  I went home and checked the event’s web page and sure enough it says the festival is canceled, effective immediately.  Wow!

Lying in bed at about 2 AM that night I got on my phone and e-mailed my hotel contact that I would love to take the Labor Day spot.  Not this year, of course, but starting in 2013.  I figured there was a good chance it was already claimed, or the organizer was keeping the date for something else, or they wanted a larger group and would hold out.  A few days of back and forth (she hadn’t even heard the jazz festival was closing) and this morning she e-mailed that she’d discussed it with her sales team and they’d love to have me take that spot effective next year.  Woo!

So I’m super excited.  I can’t think of a single downside to moving to a holiday weekend – events like mine on holiday weekends tend to do very well since everyone is looking for things to do, the international flights cost half what they would in July, and I will at long last not be right on top of all the European dance events that are claiming all of my teachers.  There is a small long running event in New Hampshire that is traditionally on Labor Day weekend, but I don’t see much crossover there either in teachers or customers.  Moving to Labor Day would hijack my whole summer, for sure, BUT it would also make July less frantic so I can enjoy my birthday more, and when I travel it’s typically in September anyway (and travel is off the table for years as we know).  It’s funny that the first thing I thought of was trying for baby #2 next year, and how I would now have to push that back a month or two so as not to be too huge during the next camp – which would be good in that it would allow me to breastfeed a couple more months and my body to heal more from birth, but would also push me just that much closer to 41 which worries me.  But really it’s only about a six week difference in dates, if that.  And we all know baby #2 may be canceled at any time, whereas the event must go on if I’m to keep a roof over my head.

I feel I deserve a little self pat on the back for having seen this opportunity and nailed it before it got away.  It’s not set in stone yet but I think it’ll happen.  Once it does I’ll e-mail all my teachers to make sure they’d be available for that date next year, and also the event in DC where I sang and judged last year which has been switching dates in August for years and I’d hate for them to land on Labor Day, too.  That would kill me.  But I won’t announce the change of dates officially until my event this summer lest people decide, “oh great, let’s just wait until next year, then.”  Don’t want that happening!

The snap ‘n go Graco travel set I asked my mother to get me arrived today.  She had e-mailed asking if there was anything she could get me, and although I originally wasn’t planning on getting this item, it was recommended to me for traveling and could solve my flying/car rental woes once he and I hit the road this summer.  It was pretty expensive and I felt a little funny asking for it, but honestly she’s doing well financially these days, and I figured she kind of owed it to me.  So…thanks.