A Change of Key and Tempo

I went back to rehearsal with the Madrigirls last night. I hadn't been efficient enough to email them so I just turned up out of the blue and everyone was happy but surprised to see me.

I realized as we began rehearsing that I'd become rather sloppy in my singing in the last couple months. Music has become an act of desperation with the baby involved. Lyrics didn't matter much, even hitting the right notes didn't matter as much as singing them low loud and continuously till she decided to be lulled out of screaming. Oh, we managed to be pretty sometimes too, usually once she had stopped screaming and we were allowed to back down from utter desperation to just the nervous desire to keep her entertained and distracted. But music has definitely lacked precision for a while now.

Still, it was great to be back and I hope I'll be around long enough to perform with them. Looks like I won't be around long enough to make the next CD though, alas.

Immigration Update:

The latest packet of material has been couriered off to the embassy. They claimed there should be only about a week's turn around on this. Fingers crossed everyone. This could be it, God willing (and bureaucrats willing).

By the way, for any strays out there that may have noticed my piecing together of US and UK visiting and immigration policies in trying to figure things out themselves (bewildering, isn't it?), I will note that this latest border guard told me that I had misunderstood the visitor's visa rules (I spent days researching it! arg!) and that it is in fact limited to six months out of any given twelve on a rolling year (kicks off with your first visitor's visa) and that hop to Europe and back did absolutely nothing in her opinion. Which raises the question of why the border control coming back from Sweeden had let me back in with a new stamp as I'd planned and expected...I must say I'm not entirely convinced that they're all on the same page with this. She claimed that everyone working for them whether for five years or five minutes knew it was 6 months out of 12, but I'm quite certain that's not the answer I've recieved from everyone because I was specifically worried that might be the way it worked and so I looked into it until reassured that it was only six months in one trip. Regardless, she was rather understanding and ended up letting me in but with a different stamp that will raise questions the next few times I enter, so I'll have to stay out for a good long while once I leave from this trip (at least four, maybe six months minimum, depending when I leave this time) or else apply for a spouse visa after all.

I have to say I was rather terrified (and all on top of sleep deprivation from a trans-Atlantic red-eye). I've tried so hard to do everything by the book, and there I was being told I'd grossly broken the rules. Thankfully she was convinced I'd been operating in good faith and she and her boss let me more or less slide through for now. Still, terrifying.

So, yet more reason to hope this latest immigration step is the last. Hopefully the next trip to Britain can really be a quick visit to see friends and castles.