Wednesday, September 24th
I've been quite zonked the last few weeks. I can't seem to get enough sleep and just feel like napping much of the time. Maybe it's because I've got a few fewer balls in the air at the moment than I usually do and my physiology is slowing down under the lower levels of adrenal hormones. Either that or I just need another caramel macchiato. Work stuff continues apace. More and more pressure on the clinic to get new patients in with very strange and complicated histories and stories. The word is out. Now if I could just clone myself...
The new Prius is running well and its great to have a car getting 45+ mpg. It's going to cut the gas bill in half. After the costs of the home renovation, I need that. The contractors have finished the last few things on the top three floors. We have to sit down with them to finalize finances and then we can decide what the heck we are going to do with the basement and how fast.
Had a quick trip to Atlanta to teach some classes last weekend. Didn't see much of it but what I did notice is gas is running out and the price was outrageous when it could be found. (Thank you Prius!) The end times of America's love affair with the automobile may finally be coming. Heading to West Virginia on Sunday for my usual mine workers run.
Tommy and I have been watching 'True Blood' on HBO the last couple of weeks. It's actually pretty good, even if it does star Anna Paquin.
Tuesday, September 16th
It's been a quiet couple of weeks in the southland. Tommy and I are settling into school year routine. After several years of spending a fortune in gas for his daily 90 mile school commute, we traded the Mustang in on a brand new Toyota Prius and joined the hybrid green revolution. A bit of a bittersweet moment as the Mustang was Steve's car. However, it was pushing ten years old with 130,000 miles on it so I can't say that it didn't give yeoman service. With gas again cresting $4.00 a gallon, the Prius's 50 mpg should give the wallet a bit of a rest.
I've been rather busy with work stuff the last few weeks. I've had a bunch of programs to present to the community that I've had to get ready and, on top of that, the clinic has been hopping. I've noticed that we've had more and more crazy families in recent months. I think it's because the caregiving burden for the elderly is shifting from the silent generation to the boomers and the boomers are much more likely to argue with reality. It's probably a good thing that I'm not overly busy theatrically.
Speaking of things theatrical, Tommy is costuming 'Grease' (a much easier task than 'The Music Man')and I am possibly going into a new version of 'Politically Incorrect Cabaret' for the election season. It's supposed to happen in five or six weeks and there is no firm cast, music director or material yet so I am not overly confident that it's actually going to happen. The material is writing itself this election season but it will still need to be shaped into a coherent show of fifteen or so numbers.
Tap class started up again last night and the Betty Ford dancers are back with a vengeance. Should be fun. We've also got a performance this weekend with the Men's Chorale and the church choir season is also in full swing.
Have to go to Atlanta briefly this weekend and then the West Virginia run happens the week after that.
Monday, September 1st - Covering New Orleans, Louisiana
Tommy and I headed off for Labor Day weekend in NOLA on Friday morning, aware that Gustav was headed that general direction, but not overly worried - we've been through hurricanes before and knew we would have plenty of time to get out should we need to. We arrived Friday afternoon, to be told that during our drive down, the mayor had ordered hotels closed on Saturday. Fortunately, we had friends staying in the quarter in a condo so we bunked with them Saturday night and we all came home a day early on Sunday as the city emptied out.
The weather was fine. The city was full of gay men celebrating Southern Decadence and we all had a good time, although there was a bit of a feeling of the last few scenes of 'Cabaret' but with Gustav waiting in the wings rather than the Nazis. Things were shutting down all through Saturday and, by Sunday morning, pretty much everything was shut down and the entire metro area decamped away from the coast. We joined 100,000 or so of our closest friends on I-59 north and the usual six hour trip took about seventeen.
Being a hurricane evacuee was something of an experience and, while not especially fun, I can now add it to my list of life experiences. At least the storm does not seem to have been terribly significant and we're planning on doing another group NOLA trip for Hallowe'en.
