Working like a beaver last night, I finally finished the tax returns for my wife and me. This year I used QuickTax to speed the process. In previous years I had made up my own spreadsheets; however, incorporating the many separate forms and miscellaneous numbers derived therefrom was getting to be an onerous chore. I also "netfiled" this year. Also a great convenience. Now if I can only persuade myself to log my receipts for my wife's music teaching business, say, every quarter, instead of leaving it until the end of April I might get the returns done (and receive my refund!) earlier next year.

Unfortunately, I couldn't finish my Mom's return as I was missing an important piece of data which could potentially reduce her tax payment. Oh well, I did her 1999 and 2000 tax returns at the beginnning of this year. It had been my sister's job: she hated it and kept putting it off until Canada Customs and Revenue Agency came after my Mom. Really, those returns weren't that complicated if you use the software. And my Mom even paid for the software!

Performance number 3 of Aïda takes place tonight. The trick is to psych ourselves up to make it a "fresh" performance once again. I look forward to a less crowded dressing room — all the mens' chorus and supernumeraries were put in one dressing room on the weekend because the other room was being used by another theatre in the Living Arts Centre. And my costume will have been laundered: at least my physical person will be fresh!