Tue late evening, Jul 19 - After the whole cable guy thing this afternoon, I went back to the old place and packed up the TiVo, DVD, clock/alarm, fan, computer speakers, pillows, and blankets. So now I have all my bedding and TV bits in my room—what more could I want? Oh, right. Coffee. That's next on the list. Gotta pack that in the morning.

Rehearsal tonight was pretty good, although I was completely wiped out from all the moving this afternoon. I have to say, I *love* my band. I love being forced out of the comfortable and into writing lyrics. I love getting to wail away on some songs, and croon on others. I love getting to play with songs that are already recorded on earlier CDs, changing them up a little to be interesting in a live concert. I love bouncing my songs off their blazing instrumentals. I love getting to jump on the keyboards and try to play along in the blazing sections. I love still being able to coax a dulcet note from my flute. I love being able to jam on the tamborine, hop around in front of the microphone, or curl up on a stool and sing softly into the mic.

And I really love being able to drive home in only 15 minutes, instead of the hour and a half it used to take, years ago. Or being able to sit down for a quiet dinner before heading to the studio, only 15 minutes away.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my band?