wednesday night

well.. i haven't blogged much this week because i've been sitting in various government offices trying to re create my documented life. what a hassle. if i would not have had my passport in my purse things would have been MUCH easier.

the driver's license office wanted picture id to prove who i was.. but since all my id was stolen they accepted a birth certificate, and a marriage certificate to verify my name change. now i have a paper license until the picture one comes in the mail (anywhere from 7-30 days)

the passport office has forms.. lots and lots of forms to be filled out. the first form was to report a stolen, but valid passport. when you submit that form you also have to - a: apply for a new passport, or b: be terminated in the system.

being terminated in a government system is NEVER EVER a good thing.. unless you are dead.

so.. i filled out the two forms... report stolen, and apply for new. they wanted a valid picture id.. of course i had the same issue as at the drivers license office... no picture id yet. the passport office wouldn't accept a birth certificate or marriage license as proof of who i am. they weren't interested in seeing my paper (temp) drivers license either. they said to come back after i get a valid government issued picture id.

here is the problem.. you can not fill out a stolen passport application without filling out one of the other two forms (termination or renew) what a mess. i DO NOT want to be terminated in the system.. something tells me that would be hard if not impossible to correct.

so at this moment whoever robbed me also has all my valid identification.... they can prove they are me better than i can prove i'm me :(

i HATE government bureaucracy.

hopefully the picture id wont take 30 days to arrive.. and i can clear up this mess before an even bigger mess is made.

tomorrow i'm going out of town for a couple of days. the trip was planned before all this happened and i really really need a break right now anyway.. so it turned out to be good timing.

NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS

you didn't think i'd let the crooks ruin everything did ya????

i've been working on getting a small chamber group together to play a few jobs this summer. i really love playing in a small ensemble... especially a woodwind ensemble. but i wanted something a bit unique and i wanted to work with people who i knew were excellent musicians and who wouldn't be so uptight about how much we were getting paid.

well..i have a friend who i've worked with in the past. she plays flute, but also has a bass flute. her daughter just graduated from college with a degree in music, and also plays the flute.

now a flute trio isn't terribly unique although you rarely hear one playing. but... a flute trio using 2 C flutes and one bass flutes is far less common.

we got together for the first time today just to see how we sounded. we sight read for a while.. talked about what kind of jobs we were willing to take, and came up with a plan.

i have to say... and i don't mean to brag.. but we really sounded good together. i'm playing first flute, carolbeth is playing second flute, and jill is playing bass flute.

there isn't a lot of music (maybe none) written for that instrumentation so we'll have to do some arranging and we can also use some flute trios just lowering the 3rd part and playing it on the bass.

carolbeth is getting married june 23rd (i'm shooting her wedding) and then at the end of the summer she will be moving about 6 hours away with her new husband. so.. we have this summer to work together.

i've already booked us one job on july 8th ;)

carolbeth said that she will be willing to keep practicing and come back for jobs throughout the year.. but she also said if we needed to find another flute player to replace her she would understand. i'm not sure what we're going to do yet.. i guess it depend on how much work i can book for us.

so... now i need to come up with a unique and great name for our little trio. any suggestions????

its late... and i have a huge day tomorrow and a big one on friday too, so i better go to sleep. i just wanted to let everyone know that i'm slowly getting my world put back together after the robbery.

bb4n