juggling

Audition today--I woke up at 7, went to work1 (out of 3 in general, but out of 2 for today), showered and dressed for business casual office, left at 10, cabbed it across town to THANKFULLY my cousin's apt who lived 2 minutes away from audition location, changed in her room rather than a tiny bathroom stall, warmed up for 25 minutes, ate an apple, re-focused on the task at hand, got to the audition, sang Durch and Tytania, and then cabbed it back to work1 for 2 more hours, followed by work 2 for two hours in the afternoon.

It's KIND of crazy to try and be a 'singer' while having to work other jobs. Now I know what all those people meant when they said that working in nyc and not singing can suck you into a void that is hard to crawl out of. THANKFULLY 2/3 of my jobs are AWESOME..they understand what I am in my 'real' life, and that my life's goal is not to work as an administrative assistant in their office, shred papers, make photocopies, file papers, etc...I am teaching and tutoring in subjects that I ACTUALLY like (music and languages), and I feel like I'm making good connections with the students and getting through, but...for how long? They know I won't be back for the 2nd semester, but still...it's weird to think about the fact that I didn't really move here to the city to do..THIS..I moved to sing for audition season here (and happen to need money to pay the rent and see awesome broadway shows and ..oh yea, opera too)..and now I'm getting auditions and feeling weirdly guilty about leaving my job 30 minutes early, or taking a long lunch, etc.

It's nearly impossible for me to schedule anything in the morning and so I've already had to ask very politely whether time switches would be possible.
And I know it's ok, and people do it all the time...but I try to avoid that kind of stuff like the plague. I take the time I'm given.
If it's 9:30am-all the better--wake up, warm up, kick some butt, and get on with the rest of your day.

But for the luxury of living in this lovely city for 4 months, I know I have to slave away at a day job or jobs that are not always the most exciting or stimulating, and I know that I just have to learn to focus. Clear away the work before the audition. Separate one thing from the next, and then be able to jump right back into work when it's finished.

Of course, all that REALLY matters is the audition. That is what I want to be doing, not happen to HAVE to be doing so that I can write a check at the end of each month.
And that's how I'll try to approach it in these coming weeks of what I'm sure will be an interesting experiment in the time-space continuum as I try to make it across the park at rush hour in less than 45 minutes for some auditions!