An update, a towed car, and an acceptance

Yes, indeedy, it's been that kind of week (actually, month). Last Monday, I parked my car in front of my apartment building b/c I have to move it twice a week for garbage pickup (totally ridiculous but whatever). Wednesday, I go to retrieve the car b/c of street cleaning (it was on the wrong side of the street), and thank GOD I went out to move, b/c it wasn't there. Nothing was there. I asked someone passing by if there had been any towing and he said yes, on Monday, so at least I assumed it hadn't been stolen. (My car was once stolen, about a block and a half away, in the apartment building I used to live in, and it was one of the worst incidents I have ever encountered.) Anyway, I went inside, called three numbers before I reached the correct number at the police station, and they verified that indeed, it had been stolen, due to the car alarm going off. "But I don't HAVE a car alarm," I said (I don't--six year old Kias don't NEED car alarms in general), but they insisted that that was the issue, and I had to pick it up from an autobody shop/holding site in Brighton (about four miles away). So I took the subway four stops, walked for about 15 minutes (luckily, it was an nice, sunny day in the 70s and not raining, as it had most of May), and then walked into the police station to pick up the paperwork and retrieve the car. They noted that it could have been the car horn--my club (intended to keep cars from being STOLEN, not TOWED) had slipped and caused it to go off for three hours--and I had no choice but to pay the fee ($135, kids, not to mention the $20 ticket, to add insult to injury). Fortunately, the the sargeant arranged for me to be driven to the autobody shop, as there was no way to get there by subway, and I would have to have taken a taxi otherwise. The car was indeed there, and after I paid the charges (this is when I saw the ticket on the car, and nearly went ballistic), I drove it to a side street in Brookline where my sister used to live and took the subway into work, just a couple of minutes before the graduation clearance meeting that I had to attend. (I mean, I JUST made it.)

The rest of the week was not quite as frustrating, but I had a lot of work to do to help students get ready for Commencement, while attending to the portfolio reviews (only 35 students submitted, meaning we'll get about 100 books in July--sigh). Although I typically enjoy Commencement, I think I was just too burnt out to get into it this year, and there was an issue I won't get into that really dampended the day. That said, I was so very proud of the students, particularly Tom, the Thesis student I had worked with for about four years, and I know what a joyful day it was for him. Another student survived a life-threatening car accident that severed her right, drawing hand and yet came back to win the top award, Best of Thesis, and I was bursting with pride for her, one of the nicest people I've ever met. So aside from my own issues, it was quite a day for the students (73 graduates, I believe, one of the largest classes ever), and that is why I work in Student Affairs and not in a corporate office somewhere. There were other frustrations during the week, including the death and then rebirth of my mp3 player after getting the okay to have it replaced (and it wasn't easy to get that permission), and don't ask me why. Understand that I need music all the time, nearly 24/7. The only time I don't have music on is when I am sleeping (and I fall asleep and wake up to it). I have it on while I get ready for work, on the subway to work, streaming on the web at work, on the way home, and then when I get home from work (unless I am watching the Red Sox or The Daily Show/Colbert Report). So music is the most important thing in the world to me, aside from my family, which is why I was once a professional djay and why the loss of mp3 player feels like a part of me has been removed (dramatic but true). At least it's working again, if temporarily, and I don't want to test my luck. I was at a concert at the Hatch Shell on Saturday with my friend Anna, and hearing James Blunt, Brandi Carlisle, and The Fray on a perfect day (despite the brief passing shower) was a wonderful way to spend part of Memorial Day.

On an even happier note, my director for "Uncharted Territory" has resurfaced, after commitments to two other plays, and it's now full speed ahead. I attended a rehearsal last Monday, which was fascinating (read through with some blocking), and then David and I spent two hours discussing edits to the script, most of which I readily agreed with and incorporated. I find collaboration so exhilarating, which is clearly one of the reasons I am so drawn to theatre. As much as I enjoy attending new works, I prefer writing them. ;-) I can't wait for the festival, which I've begun seeing publicized in local papers and magazine, and am proud and excited that my p.r. work is starting to pay off. And now onto the best news: another acceptance! My monologue "Chair" was accepted by a festival in Billerica, MA (one of 12 pieces that will be read and televised). I can't be there, since I'll be in Florida visiting my family, but my work will be, and will be broadcast to the town in later weeks. I feel proud that this piece, which I am very fond of, will be heard by others at the Community Voices Middlesex and Essex County Summer Writing Festival. I am very sorry I can't be there, b/c I would have loved to have mingled with the other writers, network, read my piece, and just have fun, and alas it's the ONE weekend ALL SUMMER that I will be out of town. Which just figures. But so it goes. My resume gets another piece added to it (that's three this month, an all-time high that may never be replicated) and I get the pleasure of knowing I can share my work with others. (This always happens, btw, when I least expect it. Yesterday, I was telling the "Five" producer, Rich, that I had five pieces to go with the "Five" name, and then I get another acceptance. Five isn't much, I realize, but I suppose it's not bad for a burgeoning playwright.)

So there have been a lot of highs and lows over the past couple of weeks (and finally, the sun and warm weather have arrived, which always puts me in a happier mood, despite the cold my body has decided I need to have RIGHT NOW, for the fourth time over the past six months or so). I hope that June, with the trip to Florida, and the two play festivals I will be part of, is a great month, and that the letdown after Five ends is not too dramatic (so to speak). In any case, you'll hear about it.