welcome to a new kind of tension

There's a tax deadline next Wednesday. As a result, there's been much scurrying around the Baconry. I don't find it nearly as bad as some make it out to be, but that could be because I'm on a smaller team that's known for being ahead of the game. Still, I processed nearly 20 returns yesterday after lunch. That's not a normal workload but I managed to hammer them out and still be on my way to PB's at 5pm. Personal returns are due on October 15 so we'll probably have another influx soon after this one is done. I'm taking the overtime and socking it away for New York.

I've asked for the time off for Thanksgiving because it's still far enough out that the calendar is wide open. I wanted to get in before everyone else so I'd be able to get the time off. I'm kinda just going on the assumption that I'm going to go at this point. I haven't heard from HR, but as no one else is blocked off, and it was cricket-chirp central last year during that 3 day week, I don't think it will be an issue. Mama Pants said I could have her Continental Miles (as soon as we figure out how to transfer the buggers) so I might even wind up with a free ticket—miracle!! And if not, I know I have enough on my own for one leg of the trip. The other part, if I have to cover it, will probably run about the same as a round trip ticket, given the holiday weekend, but it's worth it to me. Amanda will have to work at least one of the days I'm there so I'll have to traipse around the city by myself. I'll get lost for sure, but I think it would do me some good to have to go it alone for a bit. It doesn’t necessarily intimidate me to try navigating new places. Generally I'm doing it in a car, but eventually I want to get rid of that beast of burden anyway.

Via Colori is the weekend before Thanksgiving and I'm signed up for a square again. I'm pretty sure I've got a bigger one this year. I'm still blank for ideas. I think I'm going to need to go find a patch of sidewalk somewhere and just start drawing on it to see if I can pull off an abstract design that doesn't look too much like a cop-out. I think if I blended the colours the right way, it could be really beautiful, but I think I still need a trial run on the actual concrete surface before I commit to it. This will require me to purchase a new box of pastels, I think. Last year, instead of giving us a ginormous box at the festival, they had a table where we could come grab specific sticks of colours we needed, or trade out colours. I think it was a better system than the year before, if only for cost cutting. Those giant boxes of pastels couldn't possibly be cheap. And they worked out great for me—I didn't even need to grab any sticks from the table last year, I had enough left over. I donated quite a bit to artists who were walking by and needing specific colours as well. (It's the nice thing to do.)

I want my weekends back. I have a million things I want to get to, but I am usually so exhausted by the time I get home, I'm lucky if I get food into my face before zombie-walking to the bed. Having only one day of a weekend (or no weekend at all) doesn't leave me much room to do everything I'd like to. Lots of projects keep getting put off and that tends to screw up the flow of my life. That said, I know I won't have a weekend coming up. Since deadline is Wednesday, we'll most certainly be in churning out returns. I feel like I owe my kitchen an apology. It really just needs a bucket of napalm and a total do-over.

My saving grace these days is the Broadway soundtrack to "American Idiot."  Yes, it's the Green Day album that was turned into a play.  The harmonies give me chills.

Comments

[Mamma Pants]

Okay - first weekend off (or second if you sleep the entire first one) I have a freezer full of dinners for you and bags of leather bags for you and Amanda and other odd assortments of things that I think you'll like - and I believe I'll start your NY quilt this month. Maybe you can get through till October 15th if you picture yourself retired and doing just damned well what you want.