Update: A few people have been asking about the story.
It's been a very involved couple of months, including the unexpected death of a direct family member that shocked all of us. No, not from COVID. People are still dying from many other things in the world. But this was very abrupt. Anyway, that has led to some changes in dynamic that the family is still adjusting to and me trying to be there more for a relative. At the same time, many things have been going on at work with several employees, only a few of which are related to COVID and many more to other issues. This has led to increased burden on those of us healthy and able to kick in. Work has at the same time been busy, continuing to regain momentum after a very difficult year, which is good. The virus nearly killed the company back in the worst months. Anyway, lots and lots going on.
I have been trying to find time to get another chapter up but haven't managed it yet. This week definitely doesn't look good, either, with some deadlines for work due for us to turn back into clients and with lower number of people working toward those deadlines. But an update will come when I can. The story is perfectly fine; it's just surrounding life that's nuts at the moment.
Hope everybody is safe and well, and enjoy the holiday season as much as we can this year. And while being safe, also realize that tomorrow isn't guaranteed for any of our loved ones and wasn't even before the pandemic. Reach out to your family and friends and talk to them.
P.S. Note to Robin. You can't reply specifically to a guest review. Yes, I am a musician, specifically singing. I do play piano, but that's just for me. My passion and talent are in singing. Lack of music has been one of the hardest parts of this year to deal with. Singing yourself to the cats just isn't the same. Up until March, I got around four hours of practice each week among my various groups, more in concert week. All that hit a full stop in March and is still on hold. I agree, so many of the arts groups are going to have a hard time surviving this year.
I did just this week on Tuesday night get a little bit of singing, though. The music director at church was determined to have a candlelight service, even if a little differently, so they got everything decorated up for Christmas, and he is planning a prerecorded, sliced and edited, assembled service with several different musical parts. I went in Tuesday night to get recorded on some amped-up, have a little vocal fun with it arrangements of the standard Christmas carols. That was rather different; I'm used to singing to a live audience, and of course there wasn't one. I'm also used to the broadcast cameras being about halfway back the room. This time, with no interfering with the crowd's view or attention, the tech folks had a camera up on a stick, so they could be back a few more feet from it, but the camera was about a foot and a half away. Literally. It gave me some sympathy for TV actors; it's hard to be told "just ignore the camera" when you could almost bump into it. Tech then roamed around getting umpteen angles. So then not only is the camera a foot and a half away, it is circling you. Interesting. Anyway, with several takes and reruns, of course, for plenty of footage, that was the most music I've had in eight months. Enjoyed it immensely. They also needed footage of hands lighting candles, so there the camera was right on my hands, not my eyeballs. I'm interested in seeing the final version of this edited up with everything in it and how that comes together. It will be broadcast Christmas Eve.
