Tuesday, July 27th
It has been too darn hot the last few weeks. Highs in the mid to high 90s with heat indices well over 100. You get up in the morning and its hot. You sweat all day and it remains hot well into the evening. No outdoor activity to speak of around our house until the heat breaks. There's the occasional thunderstorm that drops the temperature for a bit, but it usually only lasts about twelve hours.
We're continuing the work around the house to get everything fixed up following three years of remodeling. All the furniture is in the patient and the boxes and bins are slowly being emptied. Filing cabinets are receiving all those things you don't want to throw out but don't quite know what to do with. The goal is everything in place by Labor Day weekend. It should be doable.
Nothing much theatrically going on at the moment so that's left extra time to play catch up with work and home. We're starting rehearsals for the opening fundraiser for Virginia Samford Theatre - what we're all singing seems to change weekly. Looks like I'm part of a quartet singing 'Heart' from Damn Yankees. How this will fit in with the rest of the show, god knows. We're also starting to plan this year's Politically Incorrect Show which goes up Halloween weekend, just before the midterm elections.
I teach the first year Med Students tomorrow, three days into their med school careers. That's always interesting. An hour on aging and death. Always such a cheery subject for the 20 somethings, but they seem to enjoy it, or at least the way I deliver the material.
Monday, July 12th
It's been relatively quiet at the Aerie the last few weeks. I've been trying to get my work life together for the next academic year. (It's going to be a busy one) and Tommy is in summer school for his education block classes until early August. Together, we are beating the house into submission and trying to get everything stowed away where it belongs. We've had things crammed into bins into corners for years during this remodel. Now is the time to find them, open them, look at the contents, wonder what the hell they are and why we own them, and then try to decide what to do with it. The goal is to have everything put away properly by Labor Day.
We took the long fourth of July weekend off and spent a few days with friends in Augusta and Columbia SC. There was lounging by pools, sunburn, eating of ribs and baked beans and potato salad. We went to bed early after a few too many mimosas and slept through the fireworks. As we came back via Atlanta, we made our first stop at IKEA as they were having a sale. It was a bit overwhelming but we emerged with a couple of sale chairs, yet another bookcase and some other odds and ends. So much for the state tax refund.
I have been admitted to the 2010-11 class for a civic program called Leadership Birmingham. It's more or less civic boot camp for community leaders and a good way to make connections of one type or another. This plus a new editorship plus all the usual mean a very busy year and not much time for things theatrical. There should be a few things such as a new Politically Incorrect and the opera chorus but musical theatre leads seem to be out. Not much in the way of shows to audition for anyway so I suppose it all works out.
