Slightly stressed

Sorry to be such a downer this morning, but I have a fairly big problem on my hands. Basically, a wedding client canceled a check he wrote to me because he claims that I was paid for overtime when we weren't kept overtime (we were in fact kept late and even verbally confirmed that it would be OK to receive the overtime pay THAT IS SPECIFIED IN THE CONTRACT HE SIGNED!) So now, I've paid the people that played with me (and I'm not going to drag them into this), and unless I receive the outstanding portion of the event fee, I essentially don't get paid. Additionally, he sent me a *very* nasty e-mail in return to the professional e-mail I sent him regarding the bounced check notification I had received from my bank. (At first I thought it was for insufficient funds, but he said he canceled it). I think I am have to take this to small claims court, because in addition to the money, his e-mail was threatening slander and warned me that he would do the horrible things he said if I try to contact him by phone or e-mail AT ALL, so there's no way that I can even contact him to try and sort this out.
DOES ANYONE KNOW ABOUT HOW TO GO TO SMALL CLAIMS COURT?
I'm just a young, probably naive, woman in my early 20s and I'm a little scared to go. But, I KNOW I'm in the right here, I HAVE a signed contract clearly laying out the terms for overtime payment, and I am not OK with the e-mail I received from him. I would like to pursue this further.

OK, thanks for listening, and I don't blame you if you skipped that. This is unquestionably the most scary thing I've ever had to deal with in my professional career thus far. I simply want to provide music to clients to make their special event happier and to make it easy on them. I want to be the best musician I can be, and the most friendly and professional person to work with. I want to make the world a better place with my music. But sometimes its so hard when things like this happen. Because at the same time, I do love to play music, and I feel very fortunate indeed to be able to do something I love for my career, but I also have to pay rent! Reality hits hard and it hits fast, and life is full of really expensive bills. People would never hire a plumber or a lawyer for something and then say "oh but didn't you have fun doing it, so do I have to pay you?" but that is frequently the attitude I encounter in music. I didn't spend 5 hours a day of my childhood practicing in order to only play as a volunteer. (I'm not talking about fundraisers, religious events that I support, and other such things--I still volunteer my time to things that are important to me--I don't want you to think that I'm only in this for the money, because I'm not!)

OK, really now, I'm moving on to...food, of course! :)

Breakfast this morning:

1/2 C oats (I always cook them in water)
1/3 C pumpkin
1/3 of Raw Foods & Whey bar (this is much better in oatmeal than plain!)

1 fig (which I took a picture of it because I thought it was beautiful. I see beauty in seemingly inane things)

1/2 C skim cottage cheese
1 TB PB from this new jar:


Altogether with coffee:



Close up:



Be sure to check out Simply Fabulous' giveaway for "Fit From Within" (which I'd love to read!) plus a yummy-looking carob bar.

Blue Sky World is giving away some bottles of herbs from HerbaSway.

I've got a lot to do today:

-Type up two different gig contracts and mail them.
-Pay rent!
-Gym (I hope I have time!)
-Teach from 3:30-9:00pm

I went to a Josh Ritter concert yesterday night and it was AMAZING! He is SOOOO cute! And great music! OMG, I'm drooling! Oops! I LOVED the concert and I'm rocking out to his music right now, while blogging and while doing the contracts here shortly. Anyone else a Josh Ritter fan? Who are your favorite artists? Any recommendations?

Have a great day!