A bit overwhelmed

Wow a lot has happened. Some good, some bad. Some as-yet-to-be-determined.

I'm a bit swamped and, as a product of that, I am also a bit spacey.

Bad stuff (cuz if you know me you know I focus on this stuff too much):
-Tim hurt his neck while practicing a partner balance last Friday with Jeremy. No fractures/breaks/dislocated vertebrae but it was an intense muscle/ligament tear and was far from fun for him. He seems like he's doing better day by day but I inherited incessant worrying from my mom so I'm not quite sure how many shows and/or backflips I am going to need to see him do before I lose the tension in myself.
-Jeremy's laptop was stolen while I was in charge of it at the conference in Atlanta. I was told the exhibit hall would be locked and stupidly left both his and Ricky's laptops (both were being used to show promotional videos of A Different Spin) on our table each day. Two uneventful days were followed by me entering the hall during the second exhibit hall session to find only one computer on the table. Hopefully I will be able to get the APCA to compensate us at least to get Jeremy a new computer but something tells me it won't happen. Plus I am not sure I will *ever* be ok with his loss of personal, irreplaceable files; music is one thing but creative works of graphic art and writing kills me to think he won't get back.
-We didn't rock our showcase at the conference like I know we can. It was still solid, but I am disappointed in myself for not doing a better job getting us focused and putting the laptop theft firmly behind us. Plus I screwed up several things I know I am better at including keeping the choreographed routine going regardless of drops. 'Deer in the headlight' moments were what I stressed we avoid and then I promptly have one myself...talk about insult to injury for that conference weekend.

Good stuff:
-Even with our sub-par showcase we still got a couple of gigs! And there is still the chance we will get more based on follow-ups with the colleges that didn't even sign interest forms but were in attendance. To think that I assumed this conference would mean an end to hours of phone calls to college activities offices...silly me.
-Another product of the conference was that we were seen by an agent and are now contractually involved with him! This means we can push a lot of the burden of finding gigs onto him which is a huge load off of my mind. I also was sure to have a clause included in our contract that we had rights to any previously established relationships with colleges and military event planners so I have the *option* of saving us that 15% he would get if we do the work. Flexibility is grand.
-I'm getting to know this super attractive girl Tracy...who may or may not ever read this so I think I will leave it at that >.>
-We have our first military gig! The four of us will be employed by the government at least once over the summer and maybe a few more times as well. We will be heading down to North Carolina in August to perform for the Coast Guard on their 'birthday'. A day filled with music, food and fun will get a little boost from our zany juggling and acrobatics.
-I am working on a gig later in August for an army base in Virgina as well as one in June in Germany! There is also a good chance we can get a gig in Japan as one of the planners at the conference seemed to like us and our new agent (Brian) has a few of his other performers headed there so a double-pronged-relationship-approach maybe in effect.
-The website and Tim and Ricky's brochure each won 3rd place for the graphics competition at the conference. I have no clue how many entries there were for each category but there were about 100 performers/agencies there so it's nice to know we rock even with the big boys.

As-yet-to-be-determined:
-The source of most of my being overwhelmed and spacey is that a college in Georgia is trying to get us to come perform in about a week. Problem #1 is that we can't put Tim in the position to say he will be ready in that short time. Problem #2 is that even with flying the awesome Alex Corby in for a crash-course in performing with us it is going to cost a ton to get us down there. Early signs say the college can foot the possibly double-cost of getting us (over $1800 to perform and about the same to fly us and shack us up in a hotel, rent a car, buy fuel, pay for parking, and possibly buy one or two fueling-station items that won't fit in luggage) down there so this could turn into a crazy fun experience. Or it could put a ton of pressure on us to put on a show not worth $1800 but worth $3600. Or it could just not happen. Ah, unknowns.
-Our new agent (Brian) is obligated to make promotional material for us, both contractually and seeing how he only gets paid if we do :) I am anxious to see what he comes up with.
-Tim's trip to the ER (precautionary as it WAS his neck and he DID pass out briefly twice from the pain when he attempted to test range-of-motion) gave me a chance to experience the wonderful world of health insurance. I think my extended coverage ran out a couple months ago so free (or even dirt-cheap) Massachusetts health care maybe on the way!
-I'm skipping Iron Pour (an event at MassArt where the Iron Guild shows off to the public how cool they are. Oh, and Boston-area fire spinners show off a little too in a casual setting) to go to a Celtics-Heat game with a friend named Alexa who is cool and awesome enough to share her raffle-y-won tickets with me. Hopefully KG will be playing at least some of the game as we apparently have great seats (16th row!!!) and it has the potential to be a great game. Plus I've been to very few non-NY sports arenas. Sad to miss the Boston fire and spinning event but many folk will be at the Boston Burlesque Expo anyway and I can't pass up a sporting event :)



I am desperately trying to establish some form of schedule for my life but am frustrated with my slow progress as big unknowns (Georgia gig? Tim's health?) come flying my way. Since I don't think many people read this little blog perhaps I will try and use it to create a schedule of sorts through accountability. Here's hoping...