The Brink of Warm Insanity

Finals are over, classes have ended, and people are packing up and moving out of their dorms. I can see the anticipation in their faces as they spend all their unused Stars Cash buying boxes of overpriced Norwegian bottled water and as many bags of chips as their arms can carry. Everyone is trying to tie up the loose ends of their year before summer actually hits and they ship off to wherever they're headed for the next three months. Performing arts majors find summer jobs in the most interesting places--local community theaters, cruise ships, theme parks, opera companies, musical theater venues, Shakespeare in the Park. Some people are shelling out more money for additional training in summer music programs in places like Florida, Salzburg, and Spoleto, Italy. My thoughts on that: If you have the money, then by all means, go for it.

I spent my entire high school career doing stuff like that, so I'm taking a break this summer. As of now, I'm getting paid to be a temporary rehearsal accompanist for a community theater production of "Smokey Joe's Café." The music is relatively easy, and the pay is $15 per hour, with three-hour rehearsals five nights a week, including Saturday rehearsals from 1-5. I feel really blessed to be able to fall back on something that comes naturally to me, like playing piano. Everyone's in need of a good accompanist from time to time, and most are more than willing to pay. At the end of this month, I'm going to be moving upstate to live with my mom and sister and work at a restaurant where my mom works. She's already got a job lined out for me, apparently, and she says I'll be able to perform at different local venues, which will be nice, since I'm not doing any other sort of performing this summer. It's just going to be me, a piano, and a tip jar. What could be more beautiful than that?

Apart from the fact that school is out, other distinguishable traits of summer are popping up left and right. From the warm, sometimes abrasive rays of sunshine spewing down upon half-naked sunbathers lying poolside and oiled up from head to toe, to the extra sense of refreshment one gets when constant indoor air-conditioning cools sun-warmed skin, summer is slowly becoming more real. I'm actually wearing my swimsuit underneath my clothes as I type this.

People keep saying that they're so anxious to leave the school and go home, and I respect that. But I can't help assuming that after a couple languid summer weeks have passed, and all there is to do is sit and home and watch Vh1, people are going to want nothing more than to get back to school where all their friends are, where there's always another show to prepare your audition cuts for, where there's always an exam to be studied for. It's an insane life we lead, but we wouldn't have it any other way. It's summer's job to remind us of that.