extracurriculars


Casting Call

What are you doing on June 20th?  No plans yet?

 

Head over to the Plough and Stars to celebrate the anniversary of Crash Safely mainstays Triple Thick!

Triple  Thick

Why should you head out to this particular party in June (and why is Crash Safely telling you to do it)?

 

The Night Ridah and myself will be there, filming a shot-for-shot recreation of this video (also shot at the Plough and Stars):

 

 

 

This video shoot is actually a prize from last year’s silent auction.

 

Come out to the Plough and be in the video!

 

We think you like us, that’s what we think…


Where have you been?

It’s been a while since I’ve updated.  While a good amount of the reason was the amount of effort I needed to put into this year’s shows, there were some other things going on in the background. I didn’t want to talk about it publicly, because it sounds cliche and frankly, sort of whiny.

I took a job over the summer that was supposed to be a step up- working in my field, with a shorter commute and a higher annual salary.

There was a catch, however, that was not apparent until I sat down at my new desk.

 

Meet the $5,000 health insurance deductible.

hospital-bill-4915028

Why yes, I was hoping to volunteer full time at my new position!

 

Before anyone makes this political, keep in mind that this is what the billion dollar, publicly traded company I work for decided was the appropriate plan for its employees.

Essentially, they chose plans that select for the healthiest people- the folks who go to the doctor once a year for annual exams, if that.

 

I had no way of knowing that all of the plans were exactly the same, differing only in the amount that’s pulled out of my paycheck.

 

As a result, I’m looking at starting 2014 without insurance, as the Health Connector seems to be overwhelmed and the insurance that will be offered by my current job changes to a different provider.

I thought that change would be a positive one- more options, perhaps?  Less of a deductible?

Try less options. Same deductible.

The company found an even cheaper plan, which costs me less out of my paycheck (yay!) but isn’t accepted by any of my medical providers (boo!).

Nothing makes you wonder what planet you’ve wandered off of when this seems like a much more plausible excuse than “because we said so”:

Maybe we could try a bit harder?

Maybe we could try a bit harder?

For the rest of today, however, I will remain grateful that I was among those sent home early to get ahead of the snowstorm. This will allow me to plot many next steps, including steeling myself to be placed on hold for another afternoon of muzak pain  delight.

 

 


And now for something….kinda different.

You may have noticed that I haven’t been updating as regularly lately. There’s a good reason for that; I’m taking a video production class this summer and I recruited our friends TRiPLE THiCK into a day of shooting. This is the second time I’ve convinced Jim Seery to be on camera for a class project, so I’m wondering when he’ll need to get a SAG card or something along those lines.

In case you haven’t seen it, here’s two songs by TRiPLE THiCK, recorded at Zippah (making great use of their winnings from last year’s Crash Safely):


What I do when I’m not planning shows….

In case you’re interested, I do other things when I’m not planning shows and benefits for MS research.

For example, I just finished this video for the In Out, who not only participated in Crash Safely, but include my husband on bass.

The In Out were very supportive of me when I was first diagnosed and unable to do much of anything for myself.  From testing a digital audio recorder (so I could take notes in a class) to letting me tag along on trips to NYC (because I wasn’t able to do much else), they’ve been a big part of my life.

The In Out- \”Do The Poacher\”