The Reluctant Receptionist

i somehow got out of rehearsal for the next couple of nights (including last night), and i had forgotten how fun it can be to have a life. go out to dinner for crazy filipino food? sure, why not! go to a church choir rehearsal!? wait, i do that every wednesday. my point is, dear reader(s), that life is slowly but surely getting back to normal after the crazy whirlwind that was fledermaus/rhymes with opera tour.

part of that getting back to normal bit has me absolutely pining for summer. i think about getting my friends together to all go lay out at boypier, eating al fresco (a conversation the other night at dinner: “eating outside. is that really all that ‘al fresco’ means?” “yes.” “huh. i always wondered.” me using the term “al fresco” is kind of a joke, in the same vein as over-pronouncing BOEUF BOURGUIGNON, making myself sound like a smelly french chef. it’s entered my lexicon to the point that i don’t notice it anymore, and people who don’t know me may think that i’m either terribly pretentious or completely crazy. i am, in fact, completely crazy. so they’d be right on at least one count.), days in central park. of course, all of these things don’t really take into account the amount of time that i spend at a desk in an office, but honestly even though my job keeps me busy, i feel so much more like i have a life of my own. it’s probably because my commute is so easy (being nonexistent, i mean), but i feel more like i have more time to myself to do what i want to do than i have since grad school. the nights yawn and stretch (and try to come to life) in front of me, with plenty of time for the gym and dinner and television and video games.

have i just grown used to the grind? maybe. i think that for a while my aversion to the regimented schedule i often find myself in was a kind of bucking the system, trying to keep myself from joining the drones of office workers. after all, i was a musician, a difficult, moody artist who couldn’t be bothered to work a 9 to 5 job like every other person out there. i resented having to. maybe it’s getting older, seeing that every single person i know, even the uber-successful singers, have to make a living somehow. maybe it’s because this is such a cherry day job. who knows; i’m just going to go with it.