First week

The first week of school actually went better than I anticipated. Things were a bit messy and disorganized - and I know damned well that, despite the staff’s best efforts, it’s going to be next to impossible to keep children consistently six feet apart - but there were no major problems, which was surprising. No outbreaks, no weirdness over schoolwork not getting done (Theo is supposed to do all of his during afterschool and has shockingly actually done it), no messages from teachers pointing out kids’ transgressions. Yet. Seven weeks to go. One step at a time.

The kids are delighted to be back. They are completely different kids. They are so excited to tell me everything that happened when I pick them up. Kids need school. They really do. I wasn’t crazy when I felt like there’s nothing I can do around here to truly replicate the school experience. I know LAUSD is considering summer school or other activities; I’m not sure what it’ll look like, but I may sign the kids up for some things if that’s possible. I’d be crazy not to take advantage of free stuff even if it only frees me up an hour or two a week. That may be an answer to summer childcare issues. 

Since yesterday I have been in grant preparation hell; the big grant that opened on the 8th and then immediately shut for two weeks was supposed to open today so I spent all day preparing the mountains of paperwork for it, only to get an email saying they decided to move it to Monday. So now I’ve spent all day today writing contracts, personnel lists, quarterly financial reports going back 2 1/4 years, saving screenshots of social media posts, and printing and scanning forms. I mean this kind of thing is normally my jam, but ugh. Considering how much could be at stake, though, I get it - and it’s a grant, not a loan, so even though they’re up your ass until you prove you spent the money on what you were supposed to, it’s still pretty life-changing. Thankfully they have a user guide that walks you through every aspect of the application - I’ve scoured all 57 pages of it twice now to make sure I have every single thing ready. I’m sure when they open at 9 AM on Monday it’s going to be a total shit show as thousands of performing arts people pile on to get they paper. I expect it to crash immediately. But hey - at least I’ll be prepared. I’ve done the hardest part. 

My brain is mush. It feels like tax time only a thousand percent more difficult and scary. In the end, it doesn’t really matter if I don’t get it - I’ll make it to February whether I have an event this year or not. But I would be irritated if I didn’t get it, considering how this loan is 100% for people like me who had to go dark for one-two years, and how much I had to scramble and take money out of my house to make ends meet, and how difficult it may be to rebuild my business after all this mess. Anyway.

Just a week and a half until my next shot. I feel the freedom coming.