and I'm still here

So much has happened in the past two months since my previous blog post. Nothing particularly earth-shattering, but enough to keep me busy (and as I said previously, facebook has stolen most of my blogging motivation).

Since late August I have been playing the organ at Westlake Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) during their search for a new music director. While it was made abundantly and genuinely clear that they love my music, I did not apply for the regular position since I'm still not at a point in my life where I want to be doing that every Sunday. And the past month when I've had shows every weekend and two solid weeks of rehearsals has reminded me exactly why!

However, playing for that church has made me feel much better about my finances after the health insurance fun I had earlier this year and my CAT scan checkup. But also -- and I made sure to tell the congregation this -- it feels great to have my musical talent respected and appreciated. There's a difference between expected, routine applause and genuine, spontaneous applause because people feel so moved. This church absolutely exhibited the latter, and there were more than several Sundays I drove home feeling great because of it.

In November I once again returned to Magnificat High School for their fall show, whereupon I had the opportunity to play my favorite show of all, Ragtime. I absolutely love this score, and it was great to play it with such a good orchestra.

And before that show even closed, I got a call from the music director of Peter Pan at The Beck Center saying their Keyboard 2 player dropped out. So the day after I was done with Ragtime, I was in nightly rehearsals for Peter Pan. As amateur/semi-pro theaters go, Beck pays very well, and it is good to expand my network into yet another venue. Peter Pan plays every weekend in December and the first weekend of January (except Christmas and New Year's), sometimes with two shows on the same day.

It just so happens that today is one of those days. I had my car worked on this morning in Elyria, had a quick breakfast at Jim's Coffeehouse, and am now blogging and attempting to catch up on life in the brief two hours I have at home today. In-between performances I'm rehearsing with a band that plays at the Westlake church and probably grabbing a fast food dinner. Such is the life of a freelance musician. Especially one who's single.

As for my regular job, things are pretty much the same as before, although we moved into another building in Grafton. Despite being a smaller operation, we are actually now in a larger space, for various reasons. I now have an office, rather than a half-room off a hallway, WITH a window. The actual work itself is the same as I've been doing for over six-and-a-half years.

I'm not going to speak at length on the whole health care debate going on in this country, but I will just note that earlier this year I looked into moving to a smaller, cheaper apartment in order to offset my new-found medical expenses. My new health insurance doesn't cover nearly as much as my old plan did. And my "employer" (in quotes because I'm an independent contractor) didn't have to offer me coverage. Frankly I'm amazed they could cover me at all, being independent. I pay the full premium, but at least it's group coverage.

Had it not been for that, I would not have been able to get health insurance, at all. Allow me to put that in bold as well: I would not have been able to get health insurance, at all. As a self-employed cancer survivor, the best deal I could get was Golden Rule through United Healthcare, who wanted me to be in remission five years (it's only been four for me), and even then it would exclude anything related to the cancer. So that CAT scan I had in July would have been a cool $6000 out of my pocket. At that point, looking for a cheaper apartment would have been the least of my worries.

In other words, not only my living conditions but my career options have been dictated by the way the health system works in the United States. Now, as I said, fortunately I was able to get group coverage through the company I'm working for, so I did end up staying in my Strongsville apartment (which I really like), but only because I cut back drastically almost everywhere in my budget. This means I'm spending far less to support The Economy™, which obviously isn't doing so hot right now either. I put Netflix on hold, stopped using Proactiv solution, and I almost never see my friends in their community theatre shows unless I can go on a free preview night. And all of those decisions were related 100% to my increased medical expenses.

Now, it's not all doom and gloom. For sanity's sake, I kept my "roller coaster budget" the same, which is about the only vacation I ever take. I still go to Seekers Coffee House every Saturday for my $5.00 breakfast. I'm still better off than many millions of Americans. And as I said above, being a substitute organist and picking up extra gigs here and there has helped immensely. But I still have my long-term future to think about, and being able to get group health insurance plays a large role in that.

I'm not saying that any of the various bills being bantered about in Congress right now is the best or "right" option. I don't know enough about all the bills to say definitively which plan is better; but frankly, neither do most people who are getting red in the face screaming about socialism and Hitler and whatnot. I dare say most Congresspersons don't know either, and are just coddling their emotional, snap-judgment constituency in the run up to the 2010 midterm elections. In other words, business as usual.

OK, so I guess I did speak at length. :)