Tuesday, October 30th
Tomorrow is Hallowe'en. Tommy and I are ignoring it this year as all of our costume stuff is packed away for the duration of the remodel and it's on a Wednesday so we have church choir anyway. Those Hallowe'ens where I have actually been at home, I think I get a maximum of four trick or treaters. That's what happens when you live at the end of a dead end on the top of a hill in a neighborhood without sidewalks.
Tommy closed 'Phantom of the Opera' on Sunday and is back to just worrying about school. He had a great time backstage on the show with all those famous outfits and drapes. I envy him that but his being that busy gave me some time to just veg for a while, something that doesn't happen any to often.
Not much new on the house front. Tile is nearly all set in the bathroom and the cabinetry has been fixed. We have to get the last of the belongings off the top two floors for floors and painting and then get ourselves out of the house for a while so they can finish floors. More hauling of furniture and boxes. At least its not 100 plus degrees out this time.
My back is out for some reason and I am moving around a bit like the Frankenstein monster. I skipped tap last night as I wouldn't be able to do it and slept instead. I just love being middle aged.
Friday, October 26th
Friday, October 19th
Another work week come and gone. Better than some, not as great as others. Slowly but surely, the work crises are coming under control and my 'to do' pile has shrunk somewhat. This is mainly due to the system finally recognizing the value of the clinic and freeing up some funds to staff at appropriate levels. With the new curriculum, I have some more opportunities to teach at the seminar level which is a lot of fun. I've got a bunch of them over the next few weeks - one on the ethics of pharmacy sales, one on the ethics of organ transplantation and some work on elder care and Medicare issues - especially coding.
Tommy remains backstage at 'Phantom of the Opera' and out of the house so I am dealing with all of the remodel stuff. After some doldrums, things are moving forward again. The new storage room is essentially done, the tile is going up in the bathroom and the kitchen cabinet problems are being corrected. We're almost at the point where we need to move out so they can finish the floors. Guess I get to spend the weekend doing more packing.
CenterStage opened their season this last week with a great production of 'Thoroughly Modern Millie' with many friends in key roles. I enjoyed it thoroughly and I hope they get the houses they deserve and make some money. Also saw 'night Mother' with my friend Ellise in the Kathy Bates role. She was great but boy, what a depressing script. Ellise and I are going to be busy the next few months. We're working on a script together for the Seasoned Performers and we're putting together a public reading on 'Terrorist' which has been pulled out of the trunk and dusted off again. Have to do a rewrite for current political reality.
Monday, October 8th
I've been very bad again about updating this. Probably due to the double stresses of work and home meltdown. We'll start with home. Remodeling continues to proceed. The current crisis is the kitchen cabinets. They were delivered on Thursday but half of them are wrong in one way or another. Three page fax to the contractor this morning to see if we can get things corrected. On a brighter note, the new storage room is being completed rapidly. When it is done, we can get out of the house for a while and they can finish up the floors. It might be nice to briefly live someplace where there is not a layer of dust all over everything.
At work, there's been a lot of hootin and hollerin over various things in the clinic. Most of what's going on has to do with too much work and not enough resources. We have a window of opportunity to spring some more money and personnel to solve some of the problems so that is being worked on. In the meantime, I continue to remove my hair slowly by the roots. The thinning on top of my head is not male pattern baldness, it's response to crisis of the day.
Tommy continues to do well in school. He's adding three weeks backstage at 'Phantom of the Opera' as male chrous dresser to his school stuff starting this week so I am not likely to see him much between now and Hallowe'en. I'm going to try to get backstage at least once during the run so I can see how that set really works.
The local Hollywood Video is closing and they're selling off their DVD stock for $5 each so we went and bought a bunch of stuff. Watched the movie version of 'Perfume' this weekend. I had read and enjoyed the novel twenty years ago and thought they did a reasonable job adapting. I don't think the film ever made it Birmingham - but then most things without explosions or comic book characters don't. If I had a lot of money, I'd open an arthouse cinema in Bimringham. It's a shame there isn't one.
