The End is Near

I actually managed choir rehearsal last night, since we're doing our big spring piece this weekend and it would have been a bad rehearsal to miss. Oddly, I could manage the high notes. It was the low notes that gave me trouble. Unfortunately, our big spring piece has a true mezzo soprano part instead of just a soprano part that occasionally splits, and it can get pretty low. I'm not actually a mezzo soprano, but because I have a big range and can read music, that's the part I get assigned to in choirs (it's a really difficult part). Today the voice is a little raspy, so it looks like I need to go on total silence (or as close to it as I can manage) until the rehearsal Saturday so I can manage to sing this piece for two services on Sunday morning. We're doing "Misa Tango," which is a mass in a tango-style setting. It's really different and kind of cool. I can't wait to hear the orchestration when we finally rehearse with the orchestra on Saturday. Last year we did the Mozart Coronation Mass, so this is a big switch. I may start campaigning for something in the Early Music or Byzantine category for next year.

I have high hopes about finishing the book today. I have a lot of scenes left to write, but I think some of them will be short because there will be a lot of cutting around between bits of action going on in different places as it all starts to converge. My plan is to sit down after lunch and then go as non-stop as I can manage. Nothing else is on my agenda for today. I also probably won't be answering my phone the rest of the day, in part because there's a local election coming up and the city council candidates are calling non-stop (does anyone ever actually decide to vote for someone because that candidate called, or does it really work the other way around?), in part because getting up to answer the phone disrupts my flow of thought and in part because I really shouldn't be talking right now. I've already talked to Mom for the day. I might get up and pick up the phone if I hear my agent's voice on the answering machine. Otherwise, I'll let the machine get it.

And, yes, I do still have an answering machine. I also don't have caller ID. I have the most basic phone service you can get because I don't use it very much. No call waiting, three-way calling or any of that stuff. I have all that on the cell phone, so there's no point in duplicating.

Wow, I sound cranky today. I didn't sleep well last night, and that may have something to do with it. It's probably best for everyone that I lock myself away with the book today.

Then I'm actually looking forward to the post-book mucking-out of the house. It's starting to get on my nerves. I have the kitchen mostly cleaned up, and it's so relaxing to be in there now. I want that sense in the rest of the house, but it may take a couple of gallons of gasoline and a few matches to achieve. Or maybe a backhoe.