Now what?

As always in those fading days of summer post-event, I’m flailing a bit as I’m not used to having this much free time. It’s weird only getting a couple of emails a day. So, mostly I’ve been on auto pilot getting the kids to and from school, making dinners, supervising showers and laundry and homework. This week they started their afterschool clubs - a thin and expensive replacement for the free afterschool program which of course they didn’t get admitted to. On Mondays they both have chess club, and Tuesdays Bobby has parkour while Theo has dungeons & dragons club. This buys me an extra hour, hour and a half pickup on those days. It’s not much, but I’ll take it - and thankfully, despite their protestations (and by “their” I mean Bobby’s), they’ve enjoyed the clubs. I’ll be honest, though - the early pickups have proven to be not a big deal. The only time it’s a problem is when I can’t be here - like on traveling gigs, which are still few compared to the Before Times - otherwise leaving in the middle of the day to pick up kids hasn’t been as disruptive as I thought. 

Still recovering from covid - I feel totally fine, but as of yesterday was still testing faintly positive. I’ll test again tomorrow before I attempt to go to back to school night on Thursday. I hope I clear it this week. I could really use some friend get togethers. With the H working late every single night and all weekend, it’s been a bit lonely around here. I’m filling the void with Japanese and Korean dating shows which are wholesome and delightful.

I’m already on the plan to put together next year’s event, negotiating with teachers and thinking about bands. Every year is like a jigsaw puzzle. Tomorrow is my tax consult, which will greatly determine my future. If I can’t put next year’s ticket sales into next year (and I’m going to guess I can’t), taxes could really wipe me out this year. I could owe $40,000 more than the $25,000 I’ve already paid. Ouch. Well, at least this will be the only year I’ll really eat it. We’ll see if he has any strategies for me going forward. 

In the meantime I’m starting the ball rolling on my podcast - I’ve reached out to the person that offered me a free logo design, and am getting recommendations for audio equipment and platforms. Then I just need my bandleader to record a little guitar piece for me, and I can set up my first interview. It may take a while to get rolling but hopefully this can be my fall project and I can get into a groove with it soon. 

If the weather cooperates, we could have our first desert cabin visit in almost four months weekend after next. I am dying to get out there. Last time we had a real visit was our anniversary weekend when it was still not finished, and we had to clear the place out at the end and put everything in the shipping container. So this time there will be a lot of cleaning and re-setting up of the whole place. I’m proposing we go out Saturday morning so we don’t have to set everything up in the dark, and stay through Monday when the kids have school off. Then I want to do the big furniture trip over Thanksgiving, since that’s going to be a lot of work and involve a U-Haul, moving of furniture from our shed, and a lengthy trip to ikea. It’s taken two and a half years, but we’re finally ready to “move in”. I can’t wait.