A new beginning?

Nothing like symbolizing the birth of a new era with a creature known for the destruction of all mankind. Woohooo!

Now, I'm still working as a performing puppeteer on a daily basis until the end of January, so no panicking yet. And I had planned on making these little dorky puppets & saving them for the Phoenix Comicon (where a friend of mine & I have a table) but I figured one in the hand is worth..well, you know. So I put him up on Etsy. I'll earn as much & save as much as I can, knowing that winter is on its way.

I'm trying to stay positive about all of this. (It's difficult)
The hours I'll be working make it challenging to get another job. So I've got to make a decision: do I give up what I love entirely so I can keep the car, feed the family, keep the kiddo in the awesome school? Or do I scrape by & force my family to do the same? I could trade in the car, but at this point we've lost so much money on it by keeping it for such a short amount of time. I suppose had I known, I might have leased it instead. Can't go back. Can only go forward with ooey gooey tentacles of doooooom! (And adorable googly eyes)

Right now, the hope is that I can "make it" with Etsy, for now. We'll be thankful for the time that I've had as a performer and hope that, if the theater can afford it down the line, they'll re-hire me (which is what she had said she'd like to do). I'll still be doing the slams and things around town, so I'm not going anywhere...just...ugh. yeah. Nothing quite like hearing all of that right before you're treated to lunch at a restaurant you don't really like just after seeing someone you know at the table in across from you.

Wow, was that a whole lot of emotional-vomit?

*resisting urge to crawl under a blanket*

I'll make another puppet!

End of an era

So, I had my review today at work and was told that my hours will be cut back & that the theater can no longer pay me to do puppet shows due to nasty recession budget constraints. I understand. It hurts, but I understand. They still want me to teach for them 9 hours per week.

I'm going to have to figure some things out...

No really, vote over there...with the poll.

The day after I wrote the last post, the director at the theater where I work called and asked me if I want to go full-time with them as a puppeteer.

Sadly, one of our puppeteers is leaving us, but the good news is that he gets to support his wife and see her during her last semester of her Master's program. Hopefully they'll come back when she's finished and life will return to normal.

In the meantime, the theater is in need of a puppeteer for their touring shows in schools. I've been asked to alleviate the burden of the school-year shows while they either find a replacement (they really need a male puppeteer) or our puppeteer comes back to us. Honestly, his return would be ideal. He's a very good puppeteer & he brings a bit of silly sanity along with him.

So, that leaves me learning one of the most difficult shows the theater does. I was told this was one of the most difficult shows right off the bat. Thankfully I had almost a full 2 weeks to learn it. I'm down to having a week exactly.

It's about water conservation. I'm getting the part with the rapping cactus (yes) down pretty okay--which is really not my strong suit. I'm the clumsiest, whitest, most awkward rapper that ever fell over her own two feet. No really, I'm friggin' white. I have barely any rhythm at all. And this is just how bad it is...I can do the rap kind-of okay..I mean..I'm getting it---but then you put a beat behind me and I'm incredibly lost and have no idea what syllable to put emphasis on. I can hardly clap to when you're happy and you know it let alone rap. And as much as I'm stumbling in my attempt at showing you how inept I am at rapping--imagine my rapping--it's worse.

So now that I've convinced you that I'm not qualified, you will fully understand my fears for memorizing this show (and the rap plus 2 songs) that this show entails.

This job also is going to require that we become a 2-car family--which will be nice, since currently I drive 3 hours every day in a 10 mile radius of my home. I did also request that instead of doing 40 hours, that I only do 32 per week. That will give me one day out of the week to still (hopefully) create.

Anyone have any advice on shopping for hatchbacks/wagons/minivans?