Stayed late at work last night to do the 990EZ return for the second job (my first time doing one for a 501(c)3 non-profit organization). On my first pass through, I came up with a difference of only $3.74 between the two numbers that are supposed to match exactly on the form.
This scares me just a bit, if for no other reason than it means over the past eight or nine years of doing taxes and bookkeeping my brain has sufficiently wrapped itself around the intricacies of the basic accounting methods to actually pull off an accuracy level of 99.995%.
Just sent out the announcement that my volunteer income tax prep site is now taking appointments - and I've already been slammed with a dozen requests in roughly 15 minutes.
I have a feeling this is just a taste of what's to come...
(And may the person who took my motorcycle jacket last night suffer eternal torment)
UPDATE (Monday):
After checking with the Seattle Channel people and coming up blank (I'd set the jacket down next to some of their gear, and wanted to make certain they didn't accidentally pick it up), I just called OTB and was informed it did in fact end up in their lost-and-found; apparently, it wasn't turned in until after I'd already asked their staff on Friday.
So, yay to the nice person who DIDN'T walk away with it!
I've Been Looking So Long At My Pictures Of You That I Almost Believe That They're Real
Things I would have taken pictures of on my walk yesterday, had I remembered to bring along a camera (or, been able to get my cell phone out in time):
1. The old woman in the wheelchair outside Group Health, completely swathed from head-to-toe in a crocheted shawl, with just her face peeking out, pointed toward the sun.
2. The 20-something couple walking their dogs together at Cal Anderson Park - his was a large male boxer, hers was a miniature pinscher; they were totally exuding a "this is a boy's dog, and this is a girl's dog" vibe.
3. The yellow VW "old bug" with the six-foot wide inflated globe netted to the top.
Everything Will Always Be Alright When We Go Shopping
After helping strike "Blind Spot" last night, I cut out early from the aprez closing party, because I had to be back at the theatre bright and early to facilitate the moving of a large platform we're loaning to a neighboring company.
Unfortunately, I woke up about two hours before I needed to, and despite an hours worth of tossing and turning couldn't fall back asleep, so got a very early start to the day.
After the platform transfer was completed, I headed up to Fremont for some breakfast and a visit to the Fremont Sunday Market, a combination of urban farmers' market, flea market, craft fare, and art walk all rolled into one.
While I was wandering around, I ran into a local filmmaker acquaintance who was sitting behind a table upon which were approximately 50 old-fashioned seltzer bottles; so old-fashioned they didn't even have the contemporary Nitrous injector nozzle. He explained he'd recently "cornered the market on all the seltzer bottles in Texas" (which didn't seem like an exaggeration), and was selling them off for $15 or $20 apiece. "I've got a guy who's fixing me up with a bottle charger", he explained, "and I'm hoping to eventually be able to start a seltzer-delivery service! If that doesn't work out, well, I'm going to have one heck of a cool kitchen appliance!"
Now, anyone who knows Web, or has seen any of his work, knows he has a fascination with mechanical objects, and a decidedly steampunk aesthetic (this is, after all, a guy who created his own army of civic-minded rocketmen), so it really doesn't surprise me in the least that he'd want to own his own water carbonizing machine.
After the market, I think I hit just about every thrift store in town; not really looking for anything in particular, just checking things out, which is an activity I like to indulge in every once in awhile. I did pick up a couple of things, and strangely most of today's purchases fell into the jewelry category; strange, because I usually don't much go in much for that kind of thing. I've always worn a watch of some sort - nothing special there - and of course, my comedy & tragedy mask ear piercing has been pretty much a permanent fixture for about nine years now (although the ear itself has had a hole in it for roughly 20), and the past couple of years I've sported a silver "Celtic braid" ring, replacing a gold signet ring I lost at a theatre retreat about five years ago. And that's it. I have some tie clips and bars, a few sets of cuff links which see occasional use, and a bracelet or two which I never wear; the sparkly-sparkly has just never really been my "thing". But today, I ended up purchasing a silver comedy-tragedy money clip, as well as a set of silver cuff links with matching tie bar in the same motif (what can I say, it's a theatre theme, how could I resist?) But, then I topped even these with the purchase of a Titanium ring - yeah, kind of like the one Bruce Willis (excuse me, Ed Harris - what WAS I thinking?) wore in "The Abyss".
I mean, I'm not expecting to get my hand stuck in a malfunctioning pressure-door any time soon, so I can only chalk it up to a whim - and maybe a bit of latent post-Valentine's Day doldrums? - because it definitely doesn't fit into my normal shopping pattern.
The area rug I bought for my kitchen, and the replacement lights for The Theatre's "Exit" signs - that was more like normal shopping...
Still not feeling at the top of my game. Yesterday saw some improvement, but this morning brought a definite retrenchment of the persistent bug.
Made my first visit to The Canoe Club, a sort of local version of NYC's venerableThe Lambs Club, which, according to one of its founders, is intended to be a multi-disciplinary arts networking space, where artists can get together, sample each others work, generate collaborative projects, and just generally hang out and have a good time.
Molly and I spent a couple hours there after our theatre staff meeting last night, chatting with colleagues, getting a brief tour, gluing together make-shift coffee-filter chandelliers, and playing a couple rounds of Apples To Apples.
The space itself definitely has lots of potential, and the people working on it seem to have a pretty good handle on what they want it to be - plus, with so many creative types involved, it's bound to wind up looking totally swank (the donated Starbucks furniture notwithstanding), and could end up being a real boon to the larger arts community.
Fighting off some sort of bug; started feeling the tell-tale tickle in the throat yesterday, and by the time I got home it had turned into a full-on sore throat. Ended up bagging working on the theatre's monthly late-night cabaret, as it would have involved corralling the audience into a cold, drafty stairwell, which had the potential to turn me into some sort of minor "Typhoid Mary", which didn't sound at all like a good thing to do. First one I've missed in a number of years, but I'm sure the several score of people I didn't breath on would have appreciated it.
Feeling a bit better today, thanks to 14 hours sleep, and a whole lot of Emergency & zinc. Guess I'll take it easy today and see how things progress. Good opportunity to get some guitar practice in, and catch up on some TV shows I haven't seen - thank you, Internets.
Another relatively quiet week, blogging-wise. Work has picked up considerably, but that's been ameliorated by a general dearth of extra-curricular projects, so it all balances out.
Did a volunteer bartending shift Friday for a local arts funding organization; Molly and I spent about five hours on our feet pouring beer & wine for local arts scenesters, netting a very large amount of tip-cash for our efforts (at one point we had filled a plastic bag so full of dollar bills it looked like a small money-pillow). I promptly took my part of the booty and spent most of it the next evening at a fundraising event for an upcoming solo performance festival, during which it occured to me that this is in fact how a significant portion of the local arts economy tends to work, particularly on the lower rungs: somebody gives you some money at an event, and you in turn take that money and spend it at another event - lather, rinse, repeat.
Someone should do an art project that tracks the movement of a twenty dollar bill as it circulates through the local art scene; how many artists touch it, what events it gets spent at, which organizations wind up with it; basically creating a sort of documentary of how much of the "funding" for arts is really a matter of artists re-spending the same currency to support each other.
