I have neglected this again. But I was busy!

So, I’ve been a bit busy lately. Understatement.

I’ve had a lot of work, which is good, but also not. But my bank account is super happy. And school didn’t suffer much. Or at least, the ramifications haven’t come clear yet.

I was mostly off in a horse barn in NJ setting up this huge ridiculous thing. It involved a horse ballet. I wasn’t there for the show, but from what I hear, the horse ballet was underwhelming. PS, that part accounted for a full day of work. Plus about half of strike. Dear event planners- if you’re going to spend that much on something as silly as a horse ballet, it had better be spectacular.

Then I spent a couple days up at the cathedral of St John, which is one of my absolute favorite places to work. It’s gorgeous, and we get to go up in to the walls and everywhere. We were way shorthanded, which sucked, but we got everything done and the show went well. The show was their annual Halloween thing, which is my favorite thing ever. Just about. They show a silent movie with live organ accompaniment. (Pause for a second to imagine watching a movie with a real organ, with 1000 or so pipes, playing. It’s fantastic.) And then they have the procession of ghouls, or something. They have a hellmouth set up, and this string of amazing characters with fantastic masks and costumes come out and make their way down the aisle. I can’t really describe it very well, but it’s a fantastic time. They do two shows that night, and there are probably 500 people at each. Possibly more. John came and sat with me for the second show, and then helped with pre-strike a little. The movie this time (also, shown from a real old projector reel) was Phantom of the Opera (and I was really excited to hear the theme on a real organ, and then remembered that that was written for the stage version years later) which was pretty good. Some funny bits. It was interesting to see how different it was from the story I’m used to. The most glaring difference is that the Phantom is killed in the end. By an angry mob with torches (which was possibly my favorite part. Not that he was killed, but an unironic, original instance of angry town mob with torches! Very satisfying).

I think I’m going to skip classes on Halloween, since I finally live in a neighborhood with kids, who go trick or treating. I’m excited. I still have to pick up candy and carve a pumpkin, though, so that’s on the agenda for tomorrow.

There’s only a little over a month of school left! It’s going fast. Algebra is going fine. Vet tech is good. Composition, I’m doing well in, two A+’s on the essays so far, need to write the third today, and I have a research paper due in a few weeks. That’s the one that’s not going well. The assignment is family history 1900 to present, and unfortunately it’s a subject I have very little interest in. Or rather, I have already exhausted my interest in. Oh well. It’s pretty short, 5-8 pages, including the citation page. I’m wondering if I’ll be penalized for only doing one side of my family. The problem is that it’s so broad. In 1900, (and this is just the one side) 3 of my great grandparents were born, so I have to start with them, plus their 8 parents. They were in 4 different countries. By the time we get to my grandparents, we’re down to two different states, so that’s good. But in those 14 people, a lot happened. A lot of places, circumstances, careers, siblings. It’s a little overwhelming. To add another 14 people, places, circumstances etc is a lot. That 28 people. 30 including my parents. 31 including me. Any one of their lives could make up 5-8 pages easily.

So I’m struggling a bit between my interest level taking up about a page, and the potential information level taking several hundred. And then my tendency to procrastinate, and lack of experience planning out and executing a project over more than a week or two. And being busy and much more interested in my vet tech homework. I’ll figure it out somehow. In the meantime, I have to go write another short essay so that at least 3/5 of my grade is an A+.