Up Periscope! and Other Monday Musings

It's April 15th!!!

For many, it's tax day, and whether they have finished their taxes or not, it's when they picture hordes of people rushing around at the last minute, flooding CPA offices and rushing to the post office.

Not so.  At least for me.

I am at the beginning of a process that takes several steps.  If I am just getting a return today, the odds of it being finished today are slim to rare.  It still has to be reviewed by one of the partners, assembled by our administrative staff, the client called, the client then reviews the return and then approves e-filing submission, the e-file is submitted, and then we have to wait for approval.  This takes some time, and although it's not impossible that one or two could be done this way, it would be very difficult to do a whole flood that way. Consequently, it is very rare for a client to come with a new return on the last tax day of the year.

What we do have is a good number of people who have waited until the last minute to pick up their return, and sometimes when they look over the returns they find something they want added or corrected.  So much of the day, for me and other preparers, is in answering questions or making quick changes.

Of course, the 15th is just a shadowy dividing line, with a number of clients extending, other looming tax deadlines, audits and myriad other assignments.  But it still should mean a return to me of the 36 hour a week schedule with Fridays off.  Huzzah!

This should mean a return to more fiction writing, including longer forms, like The History of the Trap.  I enjoy it and I can't wait!

There are many other things that over the months I have told myself I am doing but today my mind is  short circuiting just to have this over.  We'll see over time, I guess, what I really accomplish.

Play rehearsals for The Graduate pick up steam this week.  We're supposed to be off book (no scripts onstage) tonight.  Yeah, right.  They're making the 15th the first day off books!  HA! I can't even begin to seriously memorize until the 16th!  Should make for an interesting night!

Alison has a slew of meetings this week as well, including Cotillion tonight, an NYC trip meeting tomorrow night, and a vestry meeting where they vote on the same sex blessing at our church.

Soon however, Alison and I are taking a short getaway.  To the beach?  No.  To the mountains? No.  To a place for antiquing followed by a university campus?  Ding Ding Ding!  To each his own!  We are greatly looking forward to it.

Until next time,

T. M. Strait