Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk

The time alternates between fast forward and slow motion. A day can feel like a week and then a real week is finished.

We had another candidate in over last weekend. That meant another long week, though I knocked off around 1 p.m. on Saturday and worked from a great little coffee shop in Westhampton Beach. The task sheets for the first floor are all but complete. The tricky part will be to get the work scheduled into a reasonable amount of time and scheduled around the times the principals are not in the spaces.

I managed to get tickets to the Rufus Wainwright concert in Westhampton Beach on Saturday night. Rufus was everything I expected and more. He is flamboyantly gay, has an incredible voice and somehow manages to keep his vocal range during a live performance. The band was in mis-matched stripes. Rufus was in an over-the-top red and white striped suit jacket and slacks. He covered a lot from his latest album, though he managed a Judi Garland set before the intermission. His first encore, "Hallelujah", was a duet with his sister. The second piece was done a la Judi/Liza complete with choreography in tux jacket, black stockings and heels. Who knew he had great gams? He's in Milwaukee next Monday. Check him out if you have time.

Sunday found me taking the candidate to the airport at 5 a.m. I am looking forward to just one of 2 things. 2 days off or sleeping past 5 a.m. on my day off. No complaints, really, it is just the nature of the business.

I toured the south fork of Long Island on Sunday. I drove through Sag Harbor and saw the mega-yachts moored there. I also drove through East Hampton and South Hampton. Think Dells without salt water taffy and moccasins but with Tiffany's & Ralph Lauren instead. Oh, and hold the water parks, think polo fields. I was pretty beat and ended up at the Quogue Village beach later in the afternoon despite the 70 degree overcast weather. No improvement to my tan, but the nap helped.

I am settling into the routine of the house better this week. I cooked quite a bit early in the week, which was fun. We are also making improvements to the housekeeping standards and getting service to our standards from the contract staff.

I will be flying home Friday afternoon for a much needed visit with the family. I was right that this stay would be easier than Denver. However, I am looking forward to seeing ma chère and the Things, sleep in my bed and be in my space for a bit. We have things going on all weekend, but would love to fit more visits in. Call ma chère. It will be a long weekend so I will get to see the boys off for their first day of school on Monday before my flight out.

There is nothing new on the placement front. That is not to say nothing is happening, just nothing tangible. There remains a lot of "in a couple weeks" stories. It is frustrating, to be sure.

As you can imagine, I am getting more and more anxious. I will get paid for this assignment, eventually. The pay is not near enough to float all our bills and nothing near what I should be making in a permanent placement. The bogeymen are no longer hiding under the bed. I am expecting them to come knocking on the door in a few more weeks. I continue to be confident it will all work out for the best. Head up, shoulders back, sure steps forward.

I will try to get back in the routine of smaller posts. I will change to posting in the morning. It seems to be when I am most creative. I have had a bunch of ideas, but by day's end I'm too tired to do anything about it. Ciao for now.