Rattling around in my head

It's been a bit of a tough week. A bunch of my friends are going through some rough times and since 75% of them are foreigners we're also all panicking (do different degrees) about the new, more stringent visa laws. I'm good to go for another year still but it has been dawning on me that all of this is both precarious and likely temporary. Though I would like to stay in London and have all my friends stay here too- it is not up to us. So that has been frightening and difficult to come to terms with.

There have been two jobs that I have applied for recently that would have allowed me to stay in the UK. One I didn't get an interview for and the other I spent Wednesday taking four hours worth of assessment tests for. I didn't get called back for a second interview for that one.

(Part of the issue is that I'm not even sure what fields to even look in. The two I've applied for differ in all respects.)

I've been feeling down about it and so had tea and freshly picked cherries at Peter's house this morning when I picked up a bass I'm borrowing for a gig on Sunday. We had a good chat and literal tea and sympathy can never go wrong. Particularly as I now get to play with a 19th century, fretted, guitar shaped bass with a lion's head scroll for the next week.

I came back to the flat and glumly walked around the kitchen, bumping into Ella and Geoff. Ella, being the darling she is, listened to me moan for a while and then came up with an idea that hadn't totally occurred to me.

I currently *love* my job with the tykes. I bounce down the hallways and sing and grin and regularly walk into my boss's office and announce grandly that I. LOVE. MY. JOB. So I'd rather not lose that. That being said, I've run the numbers and it would be nearly impossible for me to make the amount of money that I need to through teaching alone (especially since I don't have a teaching degree). So the new idea is to scour any and all arts jobs bulletins, arts schools, and arts organizations to see what vacancies they might have. If I can make 70% of the amount I need from one of those jobs and if they'll allow me to take either one day or two mornings off a week then I can do that and my tykes and make enough to stay.

I don't know if it will work, but the new idea at least offers a glimmer of hope where I was starting to feel like there wasn't one. Between the two of us we've already managed to find two more jobs that would fit the bill, sound interesting, and I have a hope of getting. They both close on July 19th- so there is even still time to apply.

So there you go, those are the things rattling around in my head currently. Wish me luck?

PS. Happy Birthday Mommy! Happy One Day Belated Birthday, Grammy! Happy Three Days Belated Birthday, Papa!