Many musicians, and probably lots of other folks, have experienced non-weekends. Yes, a look at any calendar confirms that it is Friday, so the weekend is undeniably almost here. But I don't have a spring in my step, nor that happy "it's Friday and I have the whole weekend stretched out before me" feeling. Why? Because this weekend is a non-weekend. I have to work for a good portion of Saturday and literally all day Sunday. No time for laundry, shopping, meal planning, sleeping late, vegging out, spending time with your favorite folks, bonding with the Sunday newspaper and coffee on the balcony, or any of the things weekends are usually good for. The orchestra I manage is having auditions Saturday and Sunday, all afternoon and into the evening on both days. And Sunday morning, I'll be at my other job, my church choir position. So there's the weekend, all mapped out before me, completely spoken for. It's like a concert weekend without the satisfaction of the concert. Lots of work and no chance to just relax and enjoy. And unfortunately, it's bad timing for this particular non-weekend because 1.) my inlaws are in town visiting and I won't have much chance to see them, and 2.) I'm still getting over the nasty bug that had me incapacitated last weekend so I could use a bit more time to rest. Sigh. Maybe next weekend.
Before you feel TOO sorry for me, though, the non-weekend is coming at an excellent time financially. All these work hours will help to pad my first paycheck, and the more padding the better. Moving (and then not working for a while) is an expensive business! So there's one silver lining. The other is that I actually have a lot of work to do for my office job at the music school, and I'll probably be able to catch up on that a little bit in between auditions, which will help me out next week. We'll see how things go.
Meanwhile, before I go to work tomorrow, I'm attending my first Big 10 football game: U of Illinois vs. Syracuse. My father-in-law got tickets, and boy is he excited...it's really cute, actually. I think it will be fun, and the weather is supposed to be perfect. Hopefully Illinois will win; that is actually possible since Syracuse is pretty terrible too. The whole town started going nuts yesterday even though the game isn't until tomorrow. Apparently it's not just any 'ole game but Band Day, which I guess means the band plays more than usual or something. That is fine with me because the band is what I'm most looking forward to seeing/hearing. I'll report back after my Big 10 field experience. Tally folks: I wonder if the Illini fans can really be crazier than 'Noles fans? More post-game.
FYI: I have now finished The Time Traveler's Wife. Feel free to discuss...just warn first if your comment contains spoilers in case others want to read. All I can say is so good but sooooooooooooo sad. Sigh. Can't stop thinking about it.
Time to find something to eat and then grab a quick nap before evening activities with husband and in-laws. Hope all of you get to have real weekends; please enjoy them for both of us. And for heaven's sake, stay healthy! You don't want this thing I'm getting over. Sleep enough, drink your o.j., and be good. Happy Friday, friends.
5 comments:
I totally hear you about the non-weekend. And I can't wait to hear about the football game.
Time Travellers Wife: Loved it. I read it when my friend Steve jumped in out of the aether (after more than a year) to tell me that I pf all people needed to read it, and that one of the characters reminded him of me. When I finished it and asked him which one, he said "I always thought that you were too literate to be truly happy, and that you were the kind of tragic romantic who was literate to know that you really were a tragic romantic."
I still don't know what he meant.
But I did love the book.
I loved the Time Traveler's Wife, too. Read it ... cried ... then listened to the audiobook while we were up near Traverse City a couple falls ago ... cried again. (Librarians, Michigan and Chicago, time travel, paper arts ... how can you go wrong?)
It was a fun gift to give my old roommate when she moved to Chicago, too. She's had some fun recognizing places from the book as she explores the city.
Congratulations on the new jobs, by the way!
Kristen and Jen F. :
Glad others had such memorable experiences with Time Traveler's Wife too. What a book! It is really lingering in my head...parts of it are so full of joy, and parts of it are so hard! I loved it, and at the same time I'm mad at the author for ending it the way she did.
Kristen, I loved your story. :-)
Jen, the book made me totally want to go to the Field Museum, and to the Newberry!
Hi, J-- Say hi to E's folks for us. I can totally see your f.i.l.'s cute excitement over the football game. And I've been meaning to drop you a note to say Congrats! on the new jobs.
Hey Elisabeth!
The game was great fun, and I think E's dad had a ball! E's folks say hi right back. And thanks for your congratulations...being employed is a very good thing. Hope you're good and that your foot is all healed now. Hi to F. :-)
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