A Day In The Life

I have been inspired by a cool post by Chuck Anderson over at MusicianWages.com...he describes his day in the life as a working musician. He's got a very different day than anything I typically do, so I figured doing my own would not result in me being accused of plagiarism. Today was a 12 hour day from when we hit the road to when we got back home. I woke up at about 8 AM. The gig was a private party, and it was 3 hours away, so we got some coffee and picked up a fellow musician and took the scenic route because most roads that are not I-35 are scenic around these parts. We spent most of the time talking and I did buy a Giddings newspaper whereupon the police blotter provided 15 minutes of entertainment because it consisted of things like, "A cow was reported wandering loose on CR 391. Deputy Durburger arrived on the scene and herded the cow into the pasture. It was all ok." I'm not lying. About 30 minutes from our destination we heard a weird rumble. Susan pulled over and we had a smoking and shredded trailer tire. Luckily, Susan is not only a kickass musician, but pretty handy with a jack. We were on the road in 15 minutes. We got to the gig, set up the PA, changed clothes, sound checked, and I handled some email stuff while I waited for the show to start because there was wifi! Yes that's Susan and Kevin Welch. Yes it was awesome. It was fun and easy and I watched a good show and afterwards we packed it all back up and headed back. No flat tires on the drive home, just caffeine consumption. I had an hour drive back to Austin and now I'm blogging. It's almost midnight. Zzzz. That's usually what a day is like when we leave home and return home in the same day. These days are rare, but appreciated. During the week a typical day for me involves waking up as early as I can stand depending on how late I was up the night before...the first half of my week is spent trying to normalize my body clock and the second half of the week is usually spent destroying it again. That's ok. I still try and get 7 hours a night regardless. Anyways, once I wake up an inject coffee into my veins, I'll handle email and do booking. I do best with booking if I have an expansive amount of time because while it is very analytic to map things and route things and put things on calendars, it is also a creative process and I like time to sit and think. I'll handle web site updates, blog, or do my own writing during the mornings, too. Sometimes it's erranding like mailing gig posters and the like...the post office is not my favorite place, but I like the do-it-yourself kiosk so I get out of there with as little human interaction as possible. Then depending on the day I'll either go work at the music school (Red Leaf School of Music) from afternoon into the evening or go work for Dan at Rubicon Recording. (A thorough Rubicon post is forthcoming. It's really cool). This past weekend we had a non-gig day, so Susan and I spent it registering for the Folk Alliance 2011 conference, arranging some travel plans for her, and making spreadsheets and plans for her new album release in February. Then we watched a Mae West movie because what else do you do after making spreadsheets? It's a varied week every week and I like it that way. Sometimes it drives me nuts, but I've done the monotonous job thing before and I wouldn't trade this for anything. And now...about that bed time thing...tomorrow is here.

What Are Happening

Makin' every band glow takes coordination. Time management. Believe it or not, I used to give seminars on this stuff in college. For my job. Now I think I need to take one. See, I now have 4 jobs. This is the stuff of my life, and I feel the need to share it. So while I am incredibly lucky that I decided to give up the 8 - 5 office thing and go at it on my own, "on your own" sometimes means "piece it together." So things at the music school are good and I am still working there, and Producer Dan has branched off that and formed his own recording studio, which is awesome. So I am splitting my time at the school and the studio. I am, of course, still booking and tour managing for Susan. This is a great great job and I am thrilled every day that I get to do it, even if close friends maintain the booking end will have me chain-smoking in a unicolor tracksuit and talking like Marge Simpson in 3 years. Booking is not for the faint of heart, and I sometimes get a little antsy and yell at the air, but the thrill of the chase and the subsequent reward of seeing a gig go well for Susan is WORTH IT. I was perusing the calendar from when I first started booking to now, and I am better. The dates are fuller, they make more sense. There's always a few dates that batter and bruise me until the bitter end, but things resolve. I am ending my 2nd year as a booking agent. Phew. So anyway, the 3 jobs. I just started this new job division thing last week, and my brain almost exploded. It's not even that I'm working 40 hours for each job - the school and studio only add up to about 20 hours a week, plus the hours booking and traveling. But the diversion of attention when I am in Austin juggling all 3...requires a lot of energy. It requires a lot of energy to focus on one job to do it well, so I imagine trying to focus on 3 is akin to...working at the United Nations. Keeping everybody happy and out of war. All this to say, my FOURTH job...is figuring out the Jana Pochop music part of it. A good chunk of it is fulfilled by traveling with Susan. I get to play, see the road, meet new people; it's a great way to do it. I recommend it for everyone in my equivalent boat. Then there's the launching a new record thing that I am not so experienced at yet. The Early Year came out to a little fanfare, based mainly around my blog and my friends and family. For & Against deserves my utmost attention and a huge push, because it does. I imagine this to be a full time job, too...that's why they employ whole record labels to do this stuff. Then there's the gigging around Austin thing, which I need to do more. Play with some friends, make some walls of sound. This excites me too. Then there's the find time to write, find time to practice, take some voice lessons. This website needs redesigning. The blog needs to be fixed because Blogger made things weird with subdomains. Yadda. Make money, make connections, keep friends, do good jobs, keep up with my own thing, find an hour or 2 to watch Hulu. It's the stuff of life. I hope this doesn't come off as a gripe session, because it's not. Like I said above, I have jobs that let me work with very awesome folks. I have the opportunity to put my music into the world. I just want to do it right. That's what's on my mind.

Uncle, 2010! Uncle!

All right, I call a re-do on this year. Let's just all start over. Whine whine, ok I'm over it. I tend to shy away from personal blog posts. I know I know, it seems like I detail every truck stop and gig booking in excess, but that still leaves out a lot of what makes me tick, believe it or not. So I figure it's time to spill a little bit about 2010 so we can all move on and get moving on a real year. Some of you know, some of you don't, but my Dad passed away on January 1st. It wasn't unexpected but it wasn't expected either, the timing and the occurrence. He had been sick for a while, his quality of life was not what he deserved. For this I am grateful that he is in a way better place. His family here is not mourning what happened, we are just missing him a whole lot. I feel like I'm too young to lose my Dad, but everyone's had different things happen to them in their lives and no one is too young or old for anything. Because of this, every day this year is the first one of this new reality in my life. Not only the big deals like Dad's birthday or Father's Day, but the first February 19th without my dad. The first February 20th. My friends have been patient and understanding. I work and hang out with good people. So there's that. And then this past weekend another big part of my life was shaken up pretty hard. I was in Austin to see Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines play at the Cactus Cafe. It was an awesome show. I had a great time. I walked to my car. I noticed I had a voicemail from a minute prior. It was Susan the Boss - she had gone to La Grange (about an hour from Austin) to sing at her friend Elizabeth's gig at the Bugle Boy. I called her back, she had just wrecked the van in La Grange. She thought her arm was broken. I told her to call 911. I drove like a responsible driver who just had to be somewhere an hour away ASAP and met her at the ER. And there were x-rays, and when your boss who plays guitar for a living ends up with x-rays like this, you start to question what is going to happen to a lot of things. Fast forward to today, just so I don't leave you in suspense, but Susan's got 2 plates and 11 pins in her arm and wrist. She's expected to fully recover but it's going to be a few months. She's on the mend and already feeling tons better since her bones aren't moving around anymore. A lot of self-employed musicians don't have health insurance, this case included, so I got real good at fundraising really fast. People are generous and kind. They love what Susan brings to the world and so many people have stepped up, it's been incredible. I fully believe she will come out of this experience better than she could ever expect. And more metallic. I've been overwhelmed at the kindness people have shown me, too -- they know I'm reliant on a touring Susan. That's my job, is to facilitate her touring on both the front end and the back end. When it became obvious that might halt or slow down considerably, many people offered help and support to me, too. We both have a huge community around us, and if we ever took it for granted, now I don't think we ever will. I learned that with both of these big life events. You find out who your friends are, which is usually a bigger and more devoted circle than you think. You find out what you think you should be doing is not always really what you should be doing. I have decided that this is not the year for me to climb any ladders. I'm not up for it. I'm trying to focus on the things that matter to me. Family, friends, music, art. Words. None of that with any pressure or obligation. Just the enjoyment of their presence in my life, because it has been shown to me in stunning detail twice in the last two months that even the most important people and things in your life can go away very quickly. In the case of my Dad, it's a blessing for him and a mourning process for us. In the case of Susan, it's an intense feeling of gratefulness that she is still here. Both are events that I know will make me embrace my own time here with more enthusiasm, less worry, more joy. So I guess 2010 hasn't been so bad after all, if that's what it teaches me.

Insert "Big as a whale" joke here.

Whoa. So you never know what will happen when you're traveling around for gigs. This past weekend was an enjoyable one with two days in Houston and then a day off before a Monday night show in Port Aransas. We claimed a cabin over at Seashell Village (which our friend Jim owns and where Terri and Lloyd do their songwriting workshop), and went down to the beach. We were on the sand for about 35 seconds when a guy comes up and asks if we had seen the whale. Um, no? Apparently a whale had washed up 3 miles down, so we hopped in the car and found it. It was long dead and apparently smelly, though I plugged my nose and never smelled it. They had dragged it into a dune they had bulldozed out to bury it, but people from the university were studying it...or dissecting it...or whatever you do. There was a fin on the sand and the ball joint was almost as big as a volleyball. I touched it. Never thought I'd touch a whale, I'm not much of a swimmer. It was neat all around because apparently this is not a common occurrence, so the chances that we would be there on the right day and also learn about it to go see...were slim. This has nothing to do with music, except now when someone says, "It was as big as a whale!" I'll know exactly what they are trying to say.

Oh yeah, guitar.

Made a decision to pursue art for art's sake and not business. Doesn't change a thing except maybe a sense of urgency about things. Makes me want to play guitar for the reason I ended up here in the first place: I really like playing guitar. Same thing for writing words on paper. I can get caught up in facebooking and tweeting and youtubing and that's all awesome and I like it, too...but deciding to turn it all off for 2 hours today was long overdue. Probably means I'll write a song or two here shortly, too.

Goodness.

Oh yeah, this whole blog thing I've been doing for 3 years. I haven't forgotten! 2010 has been interesting to say the least. Some life things just require that you take some time off from your own self-imposed pressures and that is what I am doing. But I am back, blogging, and things are reaching full steam ahead momentum again. And I learned "Happy Birthday" on the ukelele for Susan. Happy Birthday, Boss! The gigs are starting to pick up with me as merch girl/tour manager/merch manager/tour monkey/whatever...I need an encompassing title. Monkey fits, as long as people think kindly of monkeys. This weekend I opened for Susan in Austin (it's been a while since I played my own town, weird), and Susan played an awesome house concert in Kerrville last night. Here we are with our host, Paula, after the show when we had already put on our cold weather hoodies and I had donned my drive-home-hat, haha. As for the rest of 2010, which I deem really starts in February because January never counts, there promises to be tons of good stuff happening. If I can keep all my plates spinning at once, that is. - I'm going to be booking a couple more artists, starting soon, and I'll say more soon. That makes me a "booking agent." That means I am closer to actually "paying bills" reliably haha. - My long-time co-conspirator Josh and I are finishing up some projects under our newly founded 20Something Media company; our first physical release of a documentary made by Josh comes soon! - Susan's tour schedule is filling...first up out of state is Folk Alliance in Memphis and Nashville in February. I'm excited about New York in March and Virginia in April, too...still working on those dates. - MY OWN RECORD, yeah that one, is getting there! Dan and I will get some background vocals by the fabulous Katie this week and mix away. It's sounding good. It's sounding like growth, which is what I asked for. So there it is...much happening. I didn't chart this path for myself when I moved to Texas, but I love everything about it so far. Forward motion breeds opportunity. Perseverance breeds success. Happy to be blogging.

2009 Photo Recap: July - Now

We played at the South Fork Music Festival in Colorado in August...there were a bunch of big jam bands playing and Susan played and then there was me, sandwiched between groups that had 6 or 7 band members in them. I did my best to hold my own, and the scenery and people were awesome. Every Susan show at the White Elephant Saloon in Fort Worth is a complete and utter blast...the band is always hoppin' and our friends show up in droves. I enjoy every gig, and each has its different nuances to appreciate, but for the hyperactive loud raucous music fan in me, the White Elephant gigs are it. I got to experience New York City in a tourist and work capacity in October. It was my job to get us from gig to gig in NY, NJ, PA, and MA all week, which kept our schedule full...but one of my favorite moments was waking up early to trek down to Times Square and see the sights and gawk like a tourist. Our annual house concert in Albuquerque went off without a hitch, and our special guest was (surprise!) Susan. It was very fitting, because we try to have this show catch up all my New Mexico peoples on what's going on in my life and music, and who better to be Exhibit A than one of my most important mentors? It was funny, it was poignant, we should all win Grammys and Oscars for that night. I have had a blast recording EP 2 with Daniel Barrett this fall. We've had to chunk our recording days and spread them out due to our travel and work schedules, but we made some heft progress in November and we are getting there. Dan is one of my favorite people, but he's also one of my favorite musicians and guitarists, which is great because I get some of my favorite guitar solos ever on my own album. That's a wonderful thing to be able to say. We have had a working relationship for over 2.5 years and it just keeps getting easier and more fun. Plus we eat a lot of Vietnamese food and drink lots of caffeine on recording days. Win!

2009 Photo Recap: January - June

Some of my favorite moments in photo form from this year...January through June. I got to open for Susan at Casbeer's a the Church twice this year, and this first gig was a "surprise" Valentine's Day show (in that it got booked but Susan wasn't informed of it until the day before)...so we hauled about 20 of our closest friends to San Antonio and had a great time, and I got to play on this much revered stage. (Tiny note: this was before I was doing the booking so um, the surprise wasn't my fault). I started playing music with these two lovely ladies, Melissa and Emily. They are fantastic singers and musicians and people. I snag Emily for her bass skills as often as I can. We have plans for a project down the line, when all our lives settle down. Ha. But we'll do it! Katie is also involved in the aforementioned project, and also volunteers to sing my songs for me at my gigs that involve wood carvings of Native Americans. Here she is doing a bang up job on "Ritalin." It was my first real experience hearing a song I wrote being sung by someone else, and now when I sing it myself, I hear Katie's version in my head. That's cool. I had the chance to play with Kate Hearne a few times this year, and you mark my words she'll be backing up Dylan or someone sooner than later. She's an amazing guitarist. We kidnapped her and took her to Albuquerque in November. I've added about 50 new tags to my job description over at Susan Gibson Inc., but one of my favorites is still Merch Girl. Yes, it's nice to add to the gig income overall, but I truly do believe everyone should own these albums. And therefore I have no problems telling people about them. This is Dub, the new dog. We picked him up in April in Winnsboro, and I claim aunthood because I'm not that disciplined at...disciplining. But I am learning by watching Suz the Dog Whisperer at work, and I have picked up a lot. Dub is a sweetheart and likes to lean on people. He also likes to dig through trash cans. Hm. I was selected as a featured regional performer at the Ballad Tree by the Kerrville Folk Festival in May, which has been the highlight of my songwriting career up to now. The next step up is New Folk...one day! We got to hang out at a cabin on the shore of Flathead Lake in Montana in June. I wore a hoodie a bunch of the time, and it was divine knowing that it was 106 back in Texas. It was my first time in Montana and it's just as scenic as all the calendars and coffee table books say it is.

2009 Recapment Part 1

So to start, I did the lamest thing ever and put in each trip I took for musical purposes this year on Google maps and then added up everything...this includes mileage from my place of residence to the gig(s) and back. This is mostly touring with Susan, but some on my own, and I didn't always go with Susan on her tours, so she's logged a ridiculous amount more. She's a road dawg like that. Anyway, my grand total of miles traveled (car and plane) is...drum roll please... 29,803 That's a lot. It's as accurate as it can be...sometimes we took alternate routes or drove around a lot once we were in the gig town and I don't keep track of that stuff, but in general - from point A to point Z...29k miles. The most miles in one month goes to October for about 6700 miles, when we flew to New York and back and then drove to Nashville. The least was February, when I didn't leave Texas and went about 600 miles from home. It's been a super fun year...I plan to ponder some of it more in blog form in the next couple of weeks. But after looking at that 29,803 number for a bit, all I really want to do now is take a nap. Hm.

Scionara, Hyundai

This has been one of those "life" weeks, whereupon the stuff I spend a lot of time ignoring all came to demand my attention at once. I did my first round of taxes by myself that didn't just involve copying info off a W-2...my 2008 had 4 months of county government work, then Red Leaf, then music income, and merch girl income. It also had a giant expense of making The Early Year. Turbo Tax better have done it right because I have no clue. I just put in the numbers. Then, before we left for New York, my little Hyundai that I have had since college...met a tree on a curve going to Wimberley. I was paying attention and being a good driver and not texting or anything, so to see how that can happen so easily will now make me yell my face off any anyone that texts and drives. Or does their makeup in the car. Or whatever. STOP THAT. Unpleasant as it was, I now have replacement wheels in the form of a Scion and dang, the new (used) ride is cool. I am pretty stoked about the stereo, actually. And I can pack more stuff in it. Not that I'm a packrat, but guitars take up space. I spent the weekend making up excuses to drive long distances. This week I head to Little Rock, Hot Springs, Memphis, and Nashville with Susan. Nashville is a nut I need to crack. Going to work on that.

Dub the Puppy

Pretty sure I'm an aunt to the cutest pup on the planet. Who doesn't need to see this face for a cheer up?

Status Report

Wot? Where the heck have I been? I don't even know. I finished moving last Thursday, as evidenced by the empty apartment below. Then I spent Friday kinda half-arranging my two new spots. Then I planted some chile plants on Saturday and slept a lot. Sunday was spent at Luckenbach for a great women's songwriter festival at which Susan headlined and kicked major butt. I forgot my camera. Oops. I think my little ball of stress compartmentalized during the weeks prior to the move because I felt like crap this week. Saltines were a diet staple and that was about it. Meh. Now I'm sitting at Patsy's Cowgirl Cafe in Austin, watching Susan and Mark Jungers songswap. It's quite enjoyable. I think I'll live. Also who wouldn't live when one gets to wake up to this view just a two minute walk from their TRAILER. Yeah, that's right. More in a bit...time to pack in on up and drive home. The gig was fun. I am the only nerd sitting at a table in the venue on a laptop. Used to that.

Wake up wake up we are fortunate

My old apartment is empty and locked. That's my alarm clock in the middle of the room because for some reason I am a horrible packer and it sat out a long time. Katie helped me clean and move the last things out. I don't know how I got a friend like her but you can't have her. I don't wish moving from a third floor on my worst enemy. I think I went up and down stairs 100 times this week. Having friends help made it so much better. That being said my grumpiness is over and I am excited for my two new living spaces and the opportunities it will afford. And next time I'm going to own less crap.

Is it May Yet?

My apartment is a mess. I will spare you the photographic evidence. I've been pretty scattered about packing because I usually am with moving but I have a little brain trigger that allows me know EXACTLY just how long I comfortably procrastinate before I get myself into trouble. This trigger works especially well for me with two things: 1. Writing history papers 2. Packing boxes So I've been hacking away at it, but the other day I was chucking some things into a box and I had the sudden realization that since I will be splitting my time between Austin and Wimberley, I had to think about which box was going where, and then consider the contents accordingly. AND MY HEAD EXPLODED. I got over it, and I will live. The big stuff gets moved Tuesday. I have time. In other news I'm an aunt to the cutest little puppy on the planet (sorry, other pup owners). We picked him up from our Crossroads hosts in Winnsboro...he's going to be a great van dog and my buddy when I'm living in Wimberley. His name is Romeo, but we've added "Dub" to his name (short for "W")...not for the President but because we got him in Winnsboro, he threw up in Waxahachie, we stopped for dinner in Waco and he sniffed around, and he lives in Wimberley now. A true dog of W's. Look at that face.

Holy Kerrville, Batman

Firstly, my Easter gig in New Braunfels was lovely and full of good folks and Katie sang my song "Ritalin" because she rocks it and it was so good. Thanks, Katie! All right. So in case you're not familiar, the Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk Contest is "the thing" to enter if you are a singer-songwriter. Every year. Rain or shine. You send in your 2 songs and then in April, you check the New Folk Finalist list. You kind of check it with maybe one eye shut and one squinted toward the screen because there's always a morsel of hope. This was my second time entering. So yesterday I squinted at the Kerrville site and did not see my name and was not surprised because there are people like Lucy Wainright Roche on that list. (I love her, go see her). So then I kept reading about what happens and then there on the site it says: "In addition to the above finalists, we selected regional performers to appear at the BALLAD TREE to sing one of their songs." And then I saw THIS: Woooohooo! I got a little giddy. And maybe told everyone I know. And announced it to the whole lobby at Red Leaf. And I'll be toasting with Adler & Hearne in Winnsboro this weekend when I open the show at their lovely venue Crossroads Music Co. Even neater. And I get to play my tune on the same day that Susan is playing her main stage set at the festival. Neatest. So this news doesn't ultimately help me pack boxes or send out emails, which is what needs to be done this morning...but it's nice to hum to in the background.

Forward Movement

Well all right. This weekend was productive...but first: HAPPY EASTER! I went to a sunrise service this morning but it was raining so they moved it indoors and it was more of a Cloud Service. But that's ok, too. On Thursday The Landlord and I got to work moving the merchandise out of the trailer I will be living in...or as she says, "We have to move the merch out so the merch girl can move in." She also suggested we just leave it in there because...merch IS my job after all. Somehow sleeping on pallets of CDs seems like it might give me back problems, though. This all involved putting the stuff into the back of a kickbutt old Ford truck. This also involved the Boss getting a kick out of making me drive this behemoth of automobilia. Collector's item. Awesome paint job. I did a good job. No one died. No trees were taken out. I did make the Boss do the reverse back up the driveway. Trees WOULD lose their lives if I had to go backwards. Respect trees: don't drive into them. We loaded up the merch, whereupon I found some retro stock, hand drawn by the artist herself. It's kind of a bright shirt. I got jokes about perhaps getting a construction helmet while I wore it. Thanks for that, friends. Friday was heading to La Grange to merch at the Bugle Boy (no, I did not wear that shirt) and see Susan and Beth Wood songswap. What a show. They complimented each other perfectly and I recommend you find yourself some Beth tunes. Good buddy Katie and I spent yesterday cleaning and sorting...we're not done and we need a trip to IKEA, but soon I shall have a homey little space. Photos will happen when I decorate, yo. And in the meantime...I NEED TO PACK. After I play a gig in New Braunfels. I need a nap.

The Move '09 Update

Home is where your iPhone is? Erm...so I made the leap of buying some Rubbermaid bins today to put stuff in. I suppose that's start. It is April 8th, so I have about 22 days to get my act together. Except I'll be on the road the next two weekends, so...subtract 6 days or so. That leaves me with about 16 days. I Twittered that I would almost prefer chucking everything over the balcony and being done with it, but that would not be proper. The good news is I have secured a great room in a great house that is about 3 blocks from the music school here in Austin, and the couple I am renting it from couldn't be cooler. Yay! It's strange how things work out sometimes. Or all the time, in my case. I call it "woowoo." So when I'm working at Red Leaf my commute time will be about 3 minutes by car...I haven't walked it yet but it's short. And when I'm being a tour monkey I basically live on site. I like to chalk it up to reducing my carbon imprint. Or something.

How Tweet of You

I don't want to brag about my penchant for getting free things because I blog, but I mean...I have a track record. This time, however, Twitter -- which is all the news these days but I'd like to point out that I've been tweeting for quite some time -- has been the cause of my mailbox joy this week. More and more companies are getting Twitter accounts, I have noticed, and it's neat to be able to reach them and say "HEY HEY HEY I LOVE YOU!" without filling out a customer service form or something. Because who has time for that? I always have time for a tweet. Luckily, El Pinto salsa has a Twitter page. I love them because they are real New Mexican chile and salsa (and if you need a refresher on what "chile" is versus "chili" please read this because it's my magnum opus). El Pinto also happens to be available in Austin and Wimberley, enabling many pots of green chile stew and many breakfast burritos to be made. It's almost like being home. This is only one jar because the other one is being refrigerated because I popped that sucker open already. Anyway...I was tweeting away at El Pinto and they asked me what my favorite was...and I replied that their "Wild and Fiery Chipotle" is my current love. So they sent me 2 jars. In the mail. Heck yeah! So thanks, El Pinto...and thank you social media. You bring us together and make my taste buds happy.

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...

I got the sick on me.

I think sometimes it's appropriate to put up a photo of pop art monkeys instead of anything else, is all. I'm a sick kid. I have been oddly cold and unable to regulate my temperature for a couple of days. I mustered some perkiness for a very fun gig last night at the Irie Bean with Stephanie Delk (where my good buddy Katie sang one of my songs better than I can which is awesome). Then I found myself buried under 4 blankets and a sleeping bag with the furnace on and shivering. So I did what any self-respecting stubborn patient would do and called my college roommate who is in med school. She's way far into med school, so she's a doctor in my book. When you say things like, "I was falling asleep standing up today watching colonoscopies," you are a doctor. Anyway I'm supposed to alternate Tylenol and ibuprofen and DRINK JUICE THANK YOU. I hate juice. I just do. Grapefruit and pomegranate and cranberry are about the only types I can muster down my throat. Thus ends this whiny, non-musicfied post. Because I have days like that, people. Tomorrow will be better!