...with taxes that is, for another year, as of 7:58 p.m. last night, two hours ahead of schedule.
In 16 sessions totaling 60 hours over a five week period I and my one volunteer (thanks Karen!) completed a total of 37 returns for 43 people, and checked the work on about ten more; not a record for me by any stretch, but we would have busted 40 returns, if there hadn't been a number of last-minute cancellations over the course of the season that couldn't be rescheduled because we filled up appointment slots so quickly. Still, I got in all of my "regulars", people who have used the program for the past three or four years, and had a lot of new faces show up as well, which is good. And even this relatively modest amount of activity still puts my site well above average locally in terms of number of clients served.
Even so, I'm still looking forward to having my weekends back again.
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...
I know, I know - it's been extremely light posting the past couple of weeks. Frankly, it's taken me this long to get fully caught up on the post-SNOWPOCALYPSE and holiday backlog at work, and aside from that, well, there just hasn't been all that much going on.
That being said, we did open our newest show at The Theatre last weekend, and we have a late-night show opening tonight. I haven't been as heavily involved in these productions, so don't have much to report on them, other than you should definitely go see them, if you're in the neighborhood.
Went to a hafla last night at the invitation of a friend who was performing for the first time. Several members of my extended theatre circle are involved in the local belly-dancing community (not surprisingly, a lot of the people I know have overlapping artistic interests - creating a sort of a nightmarish Venn diagram of intersecting subcultures within the larger local arts scene), so I frequently get notices about musical concerts, gallery openings, fundraising events, recitals, and various-and-other sundry entertainments and exhibitions. But, this was the first time I'd been to this particular type of performance bill.
Basically, a hafla is a cabaret of belly-dance routines, in this particular case, students of my friend Kendra (mate of The Ghetto Hipster, my uber-brilliant Sound Designer on "Moon"), who teaches and heads her own performance troupe, along with a couple of spin-off groups comprised of current or former students. It was a chance to show off some new routines, or in a couple of instances, an opportunity for some of her students to do their first solo work on-stage.
(I should add that, although much of the work is rooted in what I suppose one would call "traditional belly dance technique", a lot of it definitely has a contemporary slant, especially in terms of musical accompaniment, and dress (again, not surprisingly, many belly dancers seem to have a strong connection to the local goth subculture.)
Throw in a singer/songwriter playing guitar, a new "contemporary fairy tale" concocted by The Theatre's Artistic Director, and a whole lotta red wine, and you have a pretty entertaining evening of music and dance.
Next up: my annual "Tax Tips For Artists" seminar on Sunday, after which I start plunging into VITA in earnest for the remainder of the tax season: recruiting and orienting volunteers, taking my annual refresher qualification course, scheduling appointments, and getting into the thick of things come mid-March - which, when you think about it, isn't that far away.
My first appointment today was a no-show, and when I emailed her to let her know she'd missed her time, she replied: "I'm moving to Hawaii on Monday and totally forgot about cancelling."
Another of today's appointments emailed me last night with: "I'm writing to let you know that there is a possibility I will be late to our meeting tomorrow... The play I'm doing at the Seattle Rep just got picked up for a national story on NPR and they want to tape the show, the talkback, and then a quick interview with me tomorrow after my 2pm matinee."
*Sigh!* Excuses, excuses. Where ARE these kids' priorities?
Not much on the news front these past few days. Spent 10 hours yesterday doing another light hang for the next show, which opens on the 20th, and am in the throes of scheduling my annual round of tax appointments, which starts up next weekend. Trying to finish my latest art project before then; it's about 80% complete, but unfortunately, the process exacts a physical toll, since I don't have a good set up for my art board, and several hours of hunching over it doesn't seem to make my back terribly happy, so I have to give myself rest periods to let the muscles work themselves loose again between sessions. Still, I'll try to get it done this week and post a picture - it's definitely on the "geeky" side, but I think the execution of the piece is definitely an improvement over the previous one (which wasn't bad - despite not selling - just not up to the high standard I'm apparently setting for myself).
Otherwise, nothing else really exciting going on; just waiting for the rain to cease, for spring to arrive, and trying to enjoy the few, brief moments of non-blustery weather that come our way.
